


The Heart Never Lies

by hermanthejanitor



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-09-19 12:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9441080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermanthejanitor/pseuds/hermanthejanitor
Summary: Amy Santiago thought life was pretty good when she moved in with Sophia Perez in her second year of college. Everything changes though, when Sophia starts dating the irritating, excitable, and annoyingly attractive, Jake Peralta. Eventual Jake/Amy, because they're the best, with some mentions of the rest of the gang.





	1. The Beginning

Amy Santiago inhaled the scent of her coffee with relish, the bitter twang sending a jolt through her system as the haze cleared from her brain. She loved these quiet moments in the morning. It was just _her_ , in _her_ kitchen, holding _her_ mug, about to read _her_ paper. No big brothers to flick oatmeal at her, or snatch the last of the granola, or tease her for reading the business section. She still had two hours before her first class of the day, and her roommate, Sophia Perez, wouldn’t disturb Amy’s peace for at least another thirty minutes.

 

Of course, that was just the moment Sophia’s door chose to open, and Jake Peralta stumbled out, pulling a shirt over his head and blinking dubiously in the unwelcome light. Amy chewed the inside of her cheek in exasperation at the intrusion. Jake Peralta was not supposed to be in the apartment this morning, hell, he wasn’t supposed to be in her life at all. Period. It was all just a fluke.

 

* * *

 

When Amy had started her second year at college, she had been at a loss to find anywhere to live. New York city was crowded and big and expensive, and Amy wasn’t exactly well connected. Luckily, at almost the last moment, Amy’s best friend Kylie had pulled through. She had set Amy up with a family friend, a third year pre-law student in search of a roommate. Amy had been intimidated by Sophia Perez from the start; the way she dressed, the way she talked, the way she looked you in the eye when you spoke to her, all screamed ‘I could do a power pose while riding a wild horse through a hurricane, and look good doing it’. At the same time though, Sophia was smart, caring and funny, basically everything Amy dreamed of being. She welcomed Amy into her life with a wide smile and a wicked sense of humour.

 

Things had been going well with Sophia, Amy was even starting to consider them friends, when Jake Peralta dropped into their lives. More accurately, he was pushed. By Rosa Diaz.

 

Rosa was one of Amy’s few friends at college, and when Amy had agreed to meet her at a bar one night with Sophia, little did she know that Jake was tagging along.

 

Amy and Sophia had been chatting at a table not far from the bar quite happily. Sophia was on her third drink, Amy was sipping on tonic water, and the conversation was flowing easily and casually, just how friends were supposed to talk. Then Rosa had entered the bar, dragging a scruffy-haired boy with a huge grin behind her. The guy was cute, Amy supposed; his face was handsome and he wasn’t unfit, but he dressed like he worked in a second-hand record store and hadn’t done his laundry in a month.

 

Rosa had spotted Amy and Sophia and had shoved the boy ahead of her, elbowing innocent bar-goers out of her way as she went. The boy only just managed to stop himself from crashing into their table, laughing loudly at Amy and Sophia’s startled expressions as their glasses rattled.

 

“Amy, Sophia, this is Jake. Sorry, he had a couple at the last bar we were at, and he can’t hold his drink.”

 

“I can too” Jake objected, shooting Rosa the expression an argumentative puppy would have “but I invented this game where we had to take a shot every time someone said a word longer than three syllables. It was surprisingly difficult since there are only, like, fifty words that long anyway...”

 

Rosa just grunted in response, and Jake turned his attention back to the occupants of the table.

 

“Soooo, who’s who again?” he shot them a boyish smirk, which was totally _not_ charming.

 

“I’m Sophia” Sophia shook Jake’s hand, giving him a smile Amy recognised as being 10% sly scrutiny, 20% friendly, 30% amused, and 40% sultry confidence.

 

“Sweet, that must make you Amy” Jake turned his attention to Amy, who did her best to wipe off her bemused expression.

 

“Pleased to meet you.”

 

“What’re you guys drinking?”

 

“Beer.”

 

“Tonic water.”

 

“No alcohol?” Jake questioned.

 

“Not tonight.”

 

“Bad drunk?”

 

“Early class.”

 

“Wild” Jake snorted. Amy narrowed her eyes, bristling.

 

“Anyway,” he continued “can I get you guys another round?”

 

“Actually, I was just going to get some hot wings, you want in?” Sophia offered, a playful challenge behind her words. Jake beamed.

 

“You like beer and hot wings? You may be the perfect woman. What are your thoughts on Die Hard?”

 

“Best movie on the planet.”

 

“I take it back, you are definitely the perfect woman.”

 

The two of them set off towards the bar, and that was it. Amy was forgotten. It had happened before, guys usually breezed past Amy in their eagerness to get to the beautiful and charismatic Sophia, but it didn’t mean that Amy enjoyed it. She swirled her glass silently, Rosa sitting with her arms folded next to her. She couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but Jake irked her. He seemed to be the epitome of childish energy and confidence, swanning through life like it was a video game on easy. He just let his good looks and charm get him through everything, meeting the world with an affectionate grin and warm eyes.

 

Amy shook her head angrily, trying to dispel such thoughts from her mind. She’d only talked the guy for thirty seconds, it was a bit premature to start throwing darts at his picture. Still, Amy glared at her drink. She really hoped this encounter would be a one-time thing.

 

It wasn’t. Apparently, Jake and Sophia had a lot in common, and soon they were dropping words like ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ all over the place, meaning that the guy spent a copious amount of time at Amy’s apartment. It was…an experience.

 

She wasn’t sure how exactly it happened, whether she was unfriendly to him so he made fun of her, or if he teased her so she started being moody around him, but their relationship became one of quick jabs and retorts. They could barely get through a conversation without a darting insult or quip, each trying to throw the other off. In a strange way, Amy almost enjoyed having him around. She liked the feeling of competition, as if they were in a race only they knew about, and only they could tell who was winning.

 

He still exasperated her though, leading to stupid arguments that made Sophia think that maybe she should keep her roommate and boyfriend apart if she wanted to keep the peace. But even she couldn’t stop morning encounters like these.

* * *

 

Amy glanced up at Jake and nodded in greeting, trying to be civil. But, when he responded with a cheeky smile and a wink, she could feel her blood boil.

 

“Is it ok if I have breakfast, or do you want to be left alone to make bedroom eyes at that coffee?”

 

“Depends, what are you having for breakfast?”

 

“Cocoa pops with ice cream.”

 

“No way, that’s terrible!” Amy gaped, unendingly horrified by his eating habits.

 

“What if it’s mango ice cream? That’s basically a fruit salad” Jake offered.

 

“No it’s not! And that would taste disgusting-”

 

A smile had spread over Jake's face; different to the smirk he’d warn before. This smile was wider, making his eyes shine as he wound her up.

 

“Don’t knock it until you try it.”

 

“The only thing that’s going to get a knock is your head if you don’t stop bugging me.”

 

“Kinky” Jake laughed, before moving past Amy and into the kitchen. Amy rolled her eyes and turned to swipe her newspaper off the counter, but found herself face to face with Jake.

 

He had reached up to get a mug from behind her head, and her turning had put her right between Jake and the cupboard, with Jake’s face inches from her own. He was leaning into her space, a hand on the counter to one side of her, his body solid and strong, a handbreadth from her own pyjama-clad torso. For a fleeting second, she sensed the heat radiating off him, felt his breath on her cheek, smelt his aftershave. Amy could feel his gaze burning through her, searing the image of Jake being this close onto her brain.

 

They both seemed to freeze for a beat, before Jake awkwardly stumbled back, apologising with a half-hearted smile. Amy scurried out of the kitchen, cheeks burning.

_Stop being so awkward!_ She berated herself, trying to stomp down the butterflies in her stomach.

 

At that moment Sophia emerged, poised as ever, even in her pyjamas. She smiled at Amy and wandered over to the kitchen counter, where she plucked the coffee mug out of her boyfriend’s hand.

 

“About to make me a cup, were you?” she asked with a mixture of sarcasm and affection.

 

“No way, coffee is for non-blanket hogs. You lost the right to have coffee last night, I think I lost a toe to frostbite.”

 

“That’s funny, because I always thought that the person who paid for the coffee got to drink it, while lazy freeloaders got kicked out in their underwear…”

 

“Of course I was making you coffee, all the coffee!” Jake enthusiastically wrapped his arms around Sophia and grinned.

 

“Look away Amy, there’s about to be some improper behaviour over here!” he called to Amy. She met Jake’s gaze with a snort, but looked away. Her gaze bored into her paper, trying to wipe the memory of dark brown eyes staring into her own.

 


	2. Coincidences and Serial Killers

Jake carefully closed the door to Sophia’s room, hearing it click shut before he turned around. He flicked on a small lamp by the sofa, not wanting to turn on the main light in case it woke Sophia or Amy. Almost immediately though, he heard movement, and Amy rounded the corner. She was wearing an oversized hoodie over sweat pants, her hair tied back in a messy bun and her lips pursed in thought as she peered down at her phone.

 

Jake didn’t know how he felt upon seeing her. She’d made it pretty clear that she didn’t like him from the moment he’d turned up in her life, and in a lot of ways he reciprocated. She was up tight, pedantic, and insufferably clean. At the same time though, he couldn’t help but enjoy her company. She was witty, fun and challenging, and was always ready to put up a fight whenever Jake said something particularly ridiculous.

 

She also got hilariously annoyed when teased- her lips would tighten, her eyes would flash and her immaculate hands would clench. It was cute, in a totally platonic way.

 

Overall though, maybe he couldn’t bring himself to dislike her because of the way they’d met. He’d seen Rosa tagged in a photo with Amy, and had nagged her until she finally agreed to introduce him to the girl with the beaming smile and liquid eyes. When he arrived at the bar though, it became clear pretty quickly which of the roommates were more interested, and Sophia turned out to be the perfect match for him. All the same though, he couldn’t forget that it was Amy’s face that had brought him to the bar that night.

 

Amy finally glanced up, seeming surprised to see Jake.

 

“Oh, hey, sorry, I thought I was the only one up.” Her forehead creased and her mouth tugged down slightly, disappointed.

 

“Uh, yeah, there’s this thing on TV I wanted to catch. Sorry, did you want the TV?”

 

“Kind of, but it’s ok, I can record my thing.” Her shoulders dipped ever so slightly, crestfallen.

 

“Nah, s’ok, I’ll record my thing. What is it you want to watch?”

 

A slightly shifty look came into Amy’s eye and she refused to meet his gaze. “I’m not telling you.”

 

“Aw, why not? Am I not trustworthy?” he shot her his best ‘look how trustworthy I am’ smile, but she remained unimpressed.

 

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to draw my own conclusions then” he sighed dramatically before fixing her with a scrutinising look, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

 

“Ok, I’ve got it. You wanted to watch porn. Or an adult spelling bee. Or adult spelling bee-themed porn! That’s it, isn’t it?”

 

Amy rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched in amusement.

 

“No, no and no. You know, not everything everyone thinks about is related to sex.”

 

“Hey, I think about other stuff! Like baseball. And food. And his one time I thought about the meaning of life, but that was only because Sophia was studying, and then she took her shirt off and I forgot.”

 

“Yeah, I really don’t want to know” Amy grimaced.

 

“About sex?” Jake smirked and moved closer to her, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper “probably for the best, I hear it involves people being _naked_ , I don’t think it would be your thing.”

 

“Well, I’m sure most people thought learning the alphabet wouldn’t be your thing but hey, twenty years later and you’ve almost proved them wrong.”

 

She met his gaze, light rippling in her dark eyes and a small, self-satisfied smile resting on her lips.

 

“Nah uh uh, Santiago, you’re just trying to distract me from the fact that you still haven’t told me what you wanted to watch. Now come on, spill.” He fixed her with a steady look, ignoring the way she bit her lip in contemplation before cracking.

 

“Fine.”

 

“Yes!” Jake leaned forward eagerly.

 

“I was going to watch…a two hour documentary on serial killers. She glared at him, her expression defiant. “Ok, go ahead, make fun of the geek who woke up at 2am specifically to see some gory tell-all about Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer.”

 

“No way!” Jake burst out laughing.

 

“Shut up!” Amy hunched her shoulders defensively.

 

“No, it’s not that” Jake grinned “that’s why I’m up too.”

 

Amy gaped at him “are you serious?”

 

“Yeah! I even made sure to stay here tonight because my apartment doesn’t have the right channel.”

 

“Wow, that’s so weird!” Amy exposed her perfect white teeth in a genuine smile.

 

“I know, right? Now come on, we’re missing the start.”

 

* * *

 

Amy and Jake chatted incessantly throughout the documentary, exchanging theories about different cases, and explaining what they would do to catch different killers. They discussed missed evidence, patterns of kills and different investigative techniques. Jake learned that Amy’s father was a cop, and all seven of her elder brothers were either on the force or planning to be. Jake explained his fascination with Die Hard, and how he basically wanted to be John McClane when he graduated.

 

“So, you want to be a cop?” Amy asked, raising her eyebrow.

 

“Totally! What else would my level of bad ass-ery be suited to?”

 

“Dumpster diver?”

 

“Funny. What about you, Santiago, you going to be like your brothers?”

 

“Nope, I’m going to be a hundred times better. I want to make captain someday” Amy grinned proudly, and Jake didn’t doubt that she would do it. He smiled back at her, enjoying the easy rhythm they had fallen into.

 

It was then that Jake realised that, even though the documentary had finished a while ago, neither of them had moved. He hadn’t wanted to, he’d been discussing crime scenes and laughing, pretty much his ideal evening. But now he was aware that it was almost 5am on a Saturday morning, and he had been chatting alone with his girlfriend’s roommate for three hours.

 

“Hey, so, uh, I should get to bed” Jake stood, trying to quash the awkwardness that had suddenly come over him.

 

“Oh yeah, me too” Amy coloured slightly, not meeting his eye.

 

They said good night and went their separate ways, both smiling slightly as they settled into their respective beds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've all enjoyed these first couple chapters, the next one features Boyle, so stay tuned! Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism, or just anything you like/don't like about the story so far.


	3. Sparring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Charles go to a self defence class, where Jake encounters a familiar face.

“Jake, this is so cool! You’re going to rock this class.”

 

“Thanks, Charles” Jake glanced around curiously; surveying the scattered crowd of students of various ages and body types slumped on the grubby matts. They all looked washed out and pale under the harsh florescent lights of the gym. Jake glanced down at his best friend, Charles Boyle, whom he had persuaded to accompany him to the self-defence class. By ‘persuaded’, Jake of course meant that he hadn’t physically stopped his friend from following him into the class when Jake had spotted the flier.

 

Suddenly, Jake spotted a familiar face in the gathering, a splash of colour among the gaunt hues. He nudged his friend and led the way over to a slight figure with a neat ponytail and nervous eyes.

 

“Amy Santiago!” Jake interrupted the girl’s tense reverie with a grin, making her jump. He’d hung out with Amy a couple times since the night they’d watched the documentary, and he’d decided that she wasn’t so bad, even if she needed to chill.

 

“Jake” Amy looked startled, halting the anxious wringing of her hands “what are you doing here?” She was wearing leggings and an oversized t-shirt, practical and understated.

 

“I’m here to learn to kick some ass of course! This is Charles, by the way, my roommate.”

 

Charles waved, a smile of psychopathic proportions spreading across his face.

 

“And why are you here, tai chi at the old folks home not doing it for you?”

 

“Terry Jeffords is the TA in one of the classes I’m starting soon, and I thought it’d be good to get some face time.”

 

“You’re going to take a self-defence class for the sole purpose of sucking up to a TA?”

 

“No” Amy crossed her arms guardedly “I also like, you now, defending myself, and stuff…” Jake laughed and Amy unwound slightly.

 

“What about you?” she retorted, “you’re just here so you can become John McClane.”

 

“Uh, duh, who wouldn’t want to be John McClane?”

 

“Well, I doubt John McClane wore a t-shirt that said ‘Camp Happy Summers and Friendship, Camp Counsellor, 2013.’” Amy pointedly read Jake’s shirt, raising an eyebrow at him.

 

“Shut up, it was my only wearable shirt! Charles used this weird new detergent in the washing machine and everything stunk.”

 

Charles nodded proudly “it was aged feta extract mixed with durian juice, just right for getting out those tough stains.”

 

“It smelt like mouldy cheese.”

 

“I don’t know” Amy smirked “anything would be an improvement on the smell of stale doughnuts.”

 

“Yeah, right” Jake turned his attention back to the girl “you know I smell great, Ames, you just don’t want to admit it or your ovaries might explode.”

 

“You wish. The only thing that’s going to explode is your brain if you keep using three syllable words” Amy responded, her eyes alight with a wicked gleam.

 

“Alright everyone” an irrationally muscular black guy took his place at the front of the class, cutting off Jake’s retort “are we ready to start?”

 

As the three of them turned their attention to the teacher, Jake couldn’t help but feel that the sparring had already begun.

 

* * *

 

The class started simply enough, with everyone pairing with someone of a similar size. Jake ended up against a pale guy who looked like he was going to cry if the teacher so much as looked at him. Jake kept an eye on Amy and Charles, paired up not too far away.

 

As Terry took them through the motions of fending off punches, kicks and elbows, Jake only half paid attention. It didn’t help that his partner was quivering with nerves, letting out bleating whimpers at the slightest contact.

 

Amy and Charles, on the other hand, were apparently having a great time. They chatted and grinned between moves, Amy even laughing at one point. Jake felt a twinge of something then, but put it down to his partner half-heartedly poking his stomach as Jake threw a slow-motion punch at him. Whenever it was time to make a move though, a look of total focus would come into Amy’s eyes, almost daring her hands to make a mistake as she determinedly imitated Terry blow for blow.

 

Suddenly Terry turned back to the class and clapped his large hands.

 

“Ok guys, why don’t we mix it up a bit? Everyone go with a partner who is bigger or smaller than yourself, then lets see how you do.”

 

The students shuffled around awkwardly, reluctantly finding new partners. Charles tapped Jake on the shoulder.

 

“Want to switch partner’s, Jakey?”

 

“What, you don’t want to be my partner, Charles?” Jake asked suspiciously, noting the mischievous gleam in his friend’s eyes.

 

“Of course I do, Jakey, I just think you should go with Amy.”

 

Jake shrugged and walked over to Amy, leaving Charles with his terrified partner.

 

“Hey, partner” Jake greeted her “ready to get your ass kicked?”

 

“You wish, Jake” Amy stuck out her chin challengingly “I have seven elder brothers, I’ve been kicking ass since I was born.”

 

It was then that Terry started talking, demonstrating the throw they were supposed to perform.

 

“Ok, you want to be thrower or throwee?” Jake questioned.

 

“Oh, I’m going to throw you so hard there’ll be a Jake-sized hole in that wall.”

Jake grinned and pretended to throw a punch. Amy grabbed his wrist, turning into him so he was pressed up against her back. Jake could feel the warmth emanating from her, the comforting firmness of her frame in his arms, the muscles sliding smoothly against each other under her clothing.

 

Next thing he knew he was staring up at the ceiling, a highly pleased Amy Santiago grinning down at him.

 

“Nice” Jake grunted, clearing his throat and floundering to his feet.

 

“You ok? Was that too hard? I’ll be softer next time” Amy looked concern, noting his slightly dazed expression.

 

“’I’ll be softer next time’ title of your sex tape” Jake shook himself and grinned, relieved when Amy rolled her eyes and stepped back, ready to be thrown.

 

* * *

 

The next few minutes seemed to pass incredibly slowly for Jake, as he struggled to ignore the feeling of Amy Santiago pressed up against his back, or in his arms, or pretty much anything to do with physical contact with Amy Santiago.

 

“Ok, Ames” Jake started, pulling her to her feet after another throw “I bet you five bucks that this time I’ll land on my feet when you throw me.”

 

“That is such a stupid idea! You could hurt yourself.” Amy stared at him incredulously, but her eyes sparked at the word ‘bet’.

 

“Aw, Ames, you do care!” Jake grinned, “I’ll be fine, I’ve done this a bunch of times. You afraid to lose?”

 

Amy studied him before sighing “fine. But don’t blame me if you break your neck.”

 

As Amy flipped him over her shoulder, Jake did his best to twist, bringing his feet up as he landed. For half a second it looked like it might work, but then he lost his balance. He went bowling forward, head over heels, almost cartwheeling before coming to a stop just before he hit the wall.

 

“Well, that went well.” Jake said out loud, voice croaky, rubbing his shoulder as he faced the blotchy white ceiling. Groaning, Jake rolled over, turning his head to find Amy almost doubled over in laughter, clutching her sides as her white teeth flashed in a wide smile.

 

“Are…you…ok?” she gasped between sniggers, trying to get herself under control. As Jake rubbed his sore back, he couldn’t help but think that it was worth it.

 

“Yeah, no thanks to you” Jake pretended to look annoyed “there are statues more sympathetic than you. At least I get five bucks out of it.”

 

“What?” Amy straightened and strode towards him, a smile still playing across her face “no way, you completely failed!”

 

“The underlying promise of the bet is that you’d be entertained, so I succeeded” Jake looked smug. Amy pulled him to his feet and gently poked his back.

 

“Seriously, are you ok though?”

 

Jake tensed at the slight pressure of her fingers “yeah, I-”

 

“Hey, you two!” Terry Jeffords was suddenly next to them, frowning “what do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Sorry, sir” Amy squeaked, shrinking under the big man’s gaze.

 

“Yeah, sorry, it was Amy’s fault.”

 

Amy punched his arm and Jake quickly relented.

 

“I mean, Amy threw me and I messed up my landing, sorry.”

 

Terry’s frown softened slightly “what’s your name?”

 

“Jake Peralta.”

 

“Interesting. Aren’t you on the register for Professor Holt’s forensic science class?”

 

“Uh, yeah. Are you the TA?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“I _am_ really sorry.”

 

Terry studied Jake and Amy for another moment before nodding.

 

“Fine, be more careful next time. You guys seemed to be doing well up to this point, so I’ll let this slide. I’ll see you in class.”

 

As Terry’s hulking back disappeared into the crowd of students still diligently practicing throws, Amy punched Jake in the shoulder again.

 

“You got us in trouble, you idiot! And you nearly hurt yourself. And why didn’t you tell me you were taking Holt’s class? And god, he probably hates us now, and he’ll tell Holt, and he’ll fail us, and-”

 

“Woah, woah, Amy, chill.” Jake took hold of Amy’s shoulders, looking her steadily in the eye “it’s fine, ok? He wasn’t mad, and he said we were doing well before!”

 

For a moment, it looked like Amy was going to argue, but instead she just sighed and nodded, seeming to calm. Jake let his hands fall and they walked back to their spot on the floor.

 

“Fine, but you’re still an idiot.” Amy muttered as they took up their stances again.

 

“Noted” Jake grinned, grabbing Amy’s wrist as she let lose a punch.

 

* * *

 

“Sooooooo?” Charles asked as he and Jake traipsed back to their apartment, a faint drizzle misting the air.

 

“So what?”

 

“You have fun with Amy?”

 

“Yeah, I suppose. You have fun with your partner?”

 

“Sure, sure.” They fell into silence, and Jake was happy to leave it like that, but Charles piped up again.

 

“What do you call Sophia?”

 

Jake frowned “like, on my phone?”

 

“No, I mean, do you have a nickname for her?”

 

“Uh, no. I’m not sure she’d like that. Why?”

 

“No reason.”

 

“Why is your voice so high pitched?”

 

“No reason.”

 

Silence fell again. It didn’t last.

 

“What’s Amy’s favourite movie?” Charles asked

 

“Training Day” they said simultaneously.

 

“How’d you know?” Jake sent his friend a baffled look.

 

“You mentioned it.”

 

“If you knew, why’d you ask?”

 

“No reason.”

 

“I’m getting really tired of that response.”

 

“What’s Sophia’s favourite?”

 

“Uh, Die Hard, I guess.”

 

“You’re not sure?”

 

“Die Hard’s the only movie we talk about, so I guess so.”

 

A beat passed.

 

“Why do you keep asking about Amy? Do you like her or something?”

 

“Aw, Jakey, she seems really great.”

 

“Yeah…So you’re going to ask her out?”

 

“What? Oh no, I don’t like her like that.”

 

“Then why do you keep asking about her?”

 

“No reason.”

 

“Oh my god, Charles!”

 

Jake was thoroughly exasperated by the time he unlocked the door to their apartment “I need to go get showered, Sophia’s coming over later. Can you stop being weird, please?”

 

“Okie dokie.”

 

“Charles!”

 

“Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, it took me a while to be happy with it, please let me know what you think! Note that all I know about US colleges come from movies and TV shows, so I'm sorry for any inaccuracies in the following chapters.
> 
> I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been commenting , it's all been really positive, and I really appreciate it. I'll update again soon, and more of the gang are going to turn up in the next chapter!


	4. A Lesson in Class

 Amy adjusted the strap of her backpack conscientiously, tapping her fingers on her leg as she stared down the imposing door in front of her.

_It’s just a class_ she told herself _it’s just a new class with one of the most renowned forensic scientists of this century, where a bad grade could dictate my future in the NYPD._ She wasn’t sure how true that last part was, but it seemed logical. If Holt decided that he hated her, he could probably preclude any chance she had of making it higher than beat cop. And that would mean that she’d failed. At life.

Another long, stuttering breath, and Amy was ready. She pushed her way through the door, accepting her fate.

* * *

 

Fate, Amy found, was taking its time. She was way too early, of course, but she could have sworn the clock was mocking her as it ticked towards the hour. She changed seat six times, tried ten different arrangements for her pens and pencils, piled her textbooks alphabetically, then in size order, then by date of publication. Amy was on the point of tearing her hair out when finally other students entered the classroom in drips and drabs.

 

“Amy!” a loud voice disrupted her musings as Jake Peralta made his way over to her, his eyes already sparking with amusement. He plonked himself down at her side and surveyed the area.

 

“Very nice desk-spot, Ames, how many other seats did you try?” he grinned at her, an action Amy had to fight to reciprocate.

 

“Only a couple.”

 

Jake raised an eyebrow.

 

“Ok, six and a half.”

 

“A half?”

 

“I almost sat at one table, but it had gum on it.”

 

Jake pulled a face “that is gross.”

 

“You literally had gum in your hair yesterday.”

 

“The important word there is ‘had’, I’m all spick and span now!”

 

“I’ll take your word for it. How’re you actually on time for a class, anyway?”

 

“Excuse you, I can be punctual when I so choose.”

 

Amy waited.

 

“Charles set my watch fifteen minutes fast this morning, and I keep forgetting, so I’ve pretty much been on time to everything today. I don’t like it; I’m going to have to be half an hour late to my next class just to compensate.”

 

Amy went to reply, but Rosa, Charles ,and some girl Amy didn’t know, were making their way over to them. Amy hadn’t realised Rosa was taking this class, but that wasn’t surprising, she wasn’t even sure ‘Rosa’ was her friend’s real name.

 

“Jake! Amy!” Charles called to them with affectionate enthusiasm, as if they might’ve forgotten their own names if he didn’t remind them loudly.

 

“Hey Charles, hey Rosa” the dark-haired girl raised her chin slightly in response to Jake’s greeting.

 

“Hey, Gina, I don’t think you’ve met Amy yet. Amy, this is Gina, old friend and aspiring dancer. Gina, this is Amy, Sophia’s roommate and aspiring professional desk organiser.”

 

Gina glanced disinterestedly at Amy before returning to her conversation with Rosa, flicking her long brown hair across her shoulder. Amy almost shrivelled up in her seat.

 

Jake leant over and whispered “don’t mind Gina, she doesn’t take note of anything unless it’s covered in glitter, has a wolf on it, or both. If it’s been touched by Beyoncé then that’s a bonus.”

 

Amy shot him a small smile before returning her gaze to her desk, her worries about the class thundering back to the forefront of her mind.

 

“Ames, chill” Jake nudged her playfully “the class will be fine. I talked to Terry, and he’s a big softie. I’m sure Holt can’t be too bad.”

 

“I just really want him to like me, you know?” Amy shrugged helplessly.

 

“I do not, I could not care less what this guy thought of me. But I’m sure he’ll like you just fine, Ames, you practically scream teacher’s pet.” His words were teasing but he gave her such a genuine smile that Amy couldn’t help but feel a little blossom of warmth grow inside her.

 

“Hey, Jake, is Sophia coming out tonight?” Gina’s voice broke through the moment of comfort, bringing Amy right back to reality. The little warm feeling stayed though.

 

“Yep, she’s ready to party it up” Jake called back to Gina, sitting directly behind him.

 

“Good. She’s actually pretty cool for a girl you’re dating. She’s not, like, Rosa-scary, but she’s got attitude, you know?”

 

“Glad you like her” Jake laughed, leaning back in his chair. Amy felt herself sink a bit at this. Of course Sophia was already friends with all these people; they probably all thought she was great and amazing and would be thoroughly underwhelmed when they found out Amy was her roommate. Sure enough, Gina continued.

 

“How’d you end up living with a girl like that, Amy? She’s luscious scarlet and you’re bland beige” Gina’s words made Amy wince. She didn’t entirely understand what the girl was saying, but it didn’t sound complementary.

 

“Mutual friend” Amy offered a weak smile, trying to act like she was in on the joke.

 

“Try ‘only friend’” Jake taunted with a wink. Amy glared at him, but somehow the jibe made her feel less awkward.

 

“Watch it Jake, I’m the roommate, I can make your life very difficult.”

 

“Oh yeah? How’s that?”

 

“I could tell your friends about your marshmallow-scented shower gel…”

Charles giggled.

 

“Or about how you sing Taylor Swift when you think you’re by yourself…”

Gina snorted.

 

“Or that you have doggy slippers that actually bark…”

 

Charles and Gina actually laughed at this, Rosa even allowing a smirk to cross her face. Amy felt her confidence grow.

 

“Or even” she leant in close to make her point, making steady eye contact with Jake “that you put the toilet paper roll on the wrong way.”

 

Even Jake laughed at that one. The others erupted into a dramatic chorus of boos and hisses, making Jake hold up his hands in mock surrender.

 

“Fine, you got me copper, I give.” His eyes danced with amusement, and something else Amy couldn’t quite distinguish. Amy was practically glowing with pride when Holt entered, declaring that the class had begun.

* * *

 

As Amy exited the classroom, she couldn’t help but breath a sigh of relief. Sure, Holt had been severe with the students, informing them that the dress code would be enforced stringently in his class, but he was an amazing teacher. He explained everything clearly and concisely, forgoing the flowery language other professors favoured. There had been a couple sticky moments when Jake had made paper airplanes out of the worksheets like an actual child, but overall it had been a successful first encounter. Amy was just planning how she would approach the first assignment when Jake’s voice cut in.

 

“Hey, Ames, you coming out tonight?”

 

Amy looked up, confused. Gina and Charles were already halfway down the corridor, and Jake was in front of her with big brown eyes wide.

 

“Uh, no, I didn’t know I was invited…”

 

“What? ‘Course you are, you know everyone who’s going. We’re just meeting up at Gina’s, and then maybe hit this bar where Gina knows the bartender. You in?”

 

“I don’t know” Amy shifted her weight uncertainly “I should get started on the assignment…”

 

“Aw, come on, that’s not due for a month! Look, you don’t even need to come out for the whole night, just hang at Gina’s for a while, ok?”

 

Amy was about to refuse out of reflex, but she met Jake’s imploring gaze and felt herself melt slightly.

 

“Fine” she sighed, and Jake grinned in genuine satisfaction.

 

“Sweet! See ya later, Ames” he waved and ran after his friends, leaving Amy to smile after him.

 

Rosa, at Amy’s side, coughed.

 

“You ready to head to English Lit?”

 

“Uh, yeah” Amy shook herself out of her daze “let’s go.”

* * *

 

Over the ensuing weeks, Amy found herself hanging out with Jake and his friends more and more. She was almost seeing more of Jake than Sophia, since on top of all the time he spent at the apartment, she would see him during class, in study sessions and on group projects. She even started getting lunch with Jake and his friends a couple times a week. Amy decided that maybe hanging out with Jake wasn’t the worst thing in the world.


	5. Cheating and Pineapples

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of angst in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it. The next one's hopefully going to be more fun though, so please stick with it! Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting, I really love it.

 Amy decided that life could be worse. She had a nice apartment, with a really cool roommate, and now she had an actual group of friends she could go to class with. She was actually getting pretty close to Charles, Gina and Jake, enjoying their playful patter and genuine affection for each other. She even got to spend more time with Rosa, who now didn’t automatically scowl whenever Amy approached her.

 

Friday nights became a bit of a staple in Amy’s week. She would go with Sophia to Gina’s apartment, where they would meet Jake, Charles, Rosa, and whatever other guests had been invited, and she would hang out with them before they went to try to sneak into bars and clubs. They would play games, drink, talk through TV shows and toss gossip back and forth.

 

One time, in an evening that had filled Amy with an excited dread, Terry Jeffords had even stopped by, as requested by Jake, in, what Amy would describe, as a moment of insanity. The guy actually turned out to be pretty chill, and the evening ended with Terry lifting Jake over his head and spinning around while Jake laughed like an excited six-year-old.

 

College for Amy was finally starting to feel a little like it was supposed to, which made her even more excited than usual to see Kylie when she visited. Amy was proud of herself; she had a social life, she’d made friends outside that one girl she met in primary school, these friends were cool, and they actually seemed to _like_ her.

 

“I mean, don’t get me wrong Kyles, I still miss you _loads_ , but it’s just so great to have a whole group of people I can feel comfortable around, you know?” Amy chattered to her friend as they passed out of another mall.

 

“I’m really happy for you, Amy” Kylie grinned, hoisting her armful of shopping higher, “I was kind of nervous setting you up with Sophia, I haven’t talked to her in a while, but it seems like she’s been good for you.”

 

“Oh yeah, thanks to her I got to know Jake, and that’s how I got to know everyone else.”

 

“You like Jake then?”

 

“Oh, he’s a pain, but once you get to know him he’s not so bad.”

 

“Is he cute?”

 

“Kylie!”

 

“What? I just want to know if Sophia’s got standards!”

 

“Yeah, he’s pretty cute I suppose.”

 

“Why are you blushing?”

 

“I’m not blushing!”

 

“Sure, you’ve just got a spontaneous sun burn. Come on, why are you blushing?”

 

“I’m not!”

 

“Seriously, what does this guy look like?”

 

“He looks like…” Amy cast her gaze along the street, trying to find anything to distract her friend, when something made her pause “that.”

 

“What?” Kylie followed her friend’s gaze to see Jake Peralta walking out of an apartment building, arm around Gina Linetti’s shoulders. As they watched, Jake planted a kiss on Gina’s forehead and muttered something into her hair.

 

“Oh my god, is that Jake?” Kylie’s head whipped from Amy to Jake and back, trying to make sense of the situation.

 

“Uh, yeah” Amy frowned “that’s weird, he’s usually playing basketball with his high school friends at this time.”

 

Kylie stared at her disbelievingly “that’s all you have to say about this? He was just totally cheating on your roommate!”

 

“What? Jake? No way.” Amy almost snorted at the idea. It was just so…un-Jake.

 

“That girl’s Gina” Amy continued “they’ve been friends forever, of course they’re more affectionate than most people. They’re like brother and sister.”

 

“Well, why are they coming out of some random apartment complex? Do either of them live near here?”

 

“No, but there are a million reasonable explanations, Kyles, relax” Amy did her best to placate her frantic friend.

 

“Come on Amy, you _know_ that looked dodgy. I’m sorry, but if you won’t tell Sophia, I’ll have to.”

 

“Fine” Amy sighed in exasperation “if it means that much to you, I’ll call him. He’ll tell me he’s just finished visiting a friend with Gina or something, and we can forget this whole thing.”

 

Deliberately, Amy took out her phone and went to her ‘recent calls’ section, selecting Jake’s number. As the dial tone sounded, she made a face at Kylie, demonstrating how stupid she thought this whole thing was. Amy loved Kylie, she really did, but the girl lived for gossip, and was happiest when someone had a drink thrown in their face or got slapped. It was not a style of living Amy particularly enjoyed. Finally, a familiar voice picked up.

 

“Hey Ames, what’s up?” Amy could just about make out the figures of Jake and Gina up the street, walking slowly through the New York crowd.

 

“Uh, nothing much. I was just wondering if you wanted to study for Holt’s test?”

 

“Ames, the thing’s in two weeks, you have got to learn to chill!” Amy could hear the laughter in his voice, and couldn’t help but reproach herself for basically spying on Jake.

 

“Uh, yeah, right” Amy laughed awkwardly “anyway, I was just wondering what you were up to.”

 

A moment of hesitation.

 

“Um, I just finished up with my basketball buddies. Look, if you really want to study, why don’t you meet me at mine in half an hour?”

 

“Oh, right, sure…”

 

Amy was barely paying attention as Jake hung up, her head ringing with a million thoughts. She could feel her heart beat in her ears, a cold feeling settled deep in her stomach, everything around her seemed indistinct and hazy.

 

“So?” Kylie watched her face eagerly “he lied, didn’t he? Oh my god, he is such a pig! We have to tell Sophia, right now!”

 

“No” Amy shook her head decisively, forcing herself into reality. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to crawl into bed and eat ice cream in the dark.

 

“What?” Kylie looked thoroughly confused.

 

“No, we’re not telling Sophia, not yet. I know Jake; he’s not a cheater. Something’s not right here. I’m going to talk to him, suss out the situation. Once I know what’s going on, then I’ll know what I need to tell Sophia.”

 

“Amy, that’s crazy! What if he lies to you?”

 

“I’ll know.”

 

“That’s ridiculous Amy, you’ve known this guy what, a month and a half?”

 

“He’s been a good friend Kyles, he deserves a chance to explain himself.”

 

“And what about your roommate? What does she deserve?”

 

“Look” Amy glared at her best friend, her veneer of control starting to crack ‘’I know what this looks like ok! It’s just...I know Jake, and this isn’t him! I want to look out for Sophia I do, I just don’t believe that Jake would do this.”

 

With that, Amy set out for Jake’s building, shouting something over her shoulder about seeing Kylie back at the apartment.

 

Amy walked blindly, thoughts blaring like horns in her head, vying for her attention. _Why had Jake lied? Was he cheating? If he had, how long had this been going on? Did Sophia have any idea? Was anything about him real? Did he even like her as a friend? If he and Sophia broke up, would she never talk to him again? Would the others still talk to her if she had to stop hanging out with Jake? Would he literally go out with anyone else but her?_

 

That last thought made Amy stop in her tracks, earning a sharp honk from a taxi. Amy did her best to dispel such ridiculous ideas, deciding that she was just shaken by this new possibility and wasn’t thinking clearly.

_Well_ she decided _there’s only one way to straighten this out._

* * *

 

Amy actually reached Jake’s building before Jake, who trotted up the front steps to find Amy, arms folded, leaning against the wall, foot tapping restlessly.

 

“Hey Ames” he greeted her with the usual easy smile, making Amy already regret what she was here to do.

 

“Hi Jake” her voice was small, her smile non-existent.

 

“What’s up?” Jake already looked concerned, brow furrowed and eyes soft.

 

“I…I need to talk to you about something.”

 

“Okay…” Jake seemed bemused, but led the way up to his apartment mutely, settling them both down on his couch before leaning forward and studying her earnestly.

 

“What’s wrong, Ames?”

 

“Where’s Charles?”

 

“Out.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“Do you want a glass of water or…?”

 

“No, I’m ok, thanks.”

 

“You don’t seem it.”

 

“Well, it’s just…” the words were stuck in Amy’s throat. She felt like she might choke if she didn’t get them out.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“We saw you earlier” Amy finally managed to blurt, deciding that the direct approach was best “Kylie and I. We saw you come out of that building with your arm around Gina and you kissed her on the forehead, and when I called you, you lied about where you were, and you never do that, so Kylie thinks you’re cheating on Sophia, and I don’t know what to think, so I decided to come here and ask you. I’m sorry, I know this is awful, but I couldn’t just explain this away without checking, she’s my _roommate_ , Jake, I’ve got to look out for her.”

 

When Amy finally stopped talking she was hunched forward in her seat, wishing the couch would swallow her up. Furtively, she watched Jake out of the corner of her eye, not brave enough to face him properly. She didn’t know what she expected. Would he laugh it off as a misunderstanding? Would he be indignant? Hurt? Would a flash of guilt cross his face?

 

What Amy wasn’t expecting was what happened. He was angry. Jake looked like someone had done a jig on the grave of his childhood pet. He looked like someone had punched him in the face at his own birthday party. He looked like someone had just burned a copy of Die Hard in front of him. His anger was tinged with something else though; he looked betrayed.

 

“Are you kidding me, Amy?” his voice was taut with emotion “you really think I’m a cheater?”

 

“Well, no, I-” Amy began but Jake wasn’t listening.

 

“I thought we understood each other pretty well! I get that you weren’t my biggest fan at first, but I thought we were passed all that! And now, what? You think I’m banging one of my best friends behind my girlfriend’s back? Do you realise how messed up that is!”

 

“Jake, I’m sorry, I just-” Amy tried to put a hand on Jake’s arm but he was up and pacing, completely blocking her out. His eyes were dark and unreadable, but Amy knew that this was Jake genuinely angry. He was clenching his jaw so hard Amy could practically hear his teeth creaking. His mouth was a tight line, like a slash across his familiar face. His brow was stormy and furrowed, making him look a lot older than his usual beaming smile allowed.

 

“Cheating? Seriously? Of all things…I can’t believe… What the hell? You think that Sophia means nothing to me? I thought we were friends, Amy, I thought…”

 

“Jake!” Amy placed herself squarely in front of Jake’s agitated figure, forcing him to look at her.

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were cheating, ok? Kylie just saw you and made assumptions, but I didn’t think it was you at all. But then you lied, and I didn’t know what to think. I could’ve gone straight to Sophia after that, but I didn’t, because I trust you and I know that you wouldn’t do anything like that. I’m sorry I didn’t explain it better, but I came here to ask what was going on, to try to straighten this whole thing out.” She offered him a small, inviting smile “now come on, sit down and tell me what’s going on.”

 

She felt like she was talking to a toddler as she tugged him by his arm back to his seat. He let her pull her down, but didn’t say anything for several minutes. He was still tense and upset, leg jumping up and down with pent up energy and face going through a dozen different contortions as he tried to process the situation. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

 

“Sorry Ames, that was a bit an over reaction. I get that the whole thing looked kinda suspicious, and I guess I appreciate that you came to me first. It’s just…cheating’s a sore subject for me, ok?”

 

His eyes were staring into space like a man shipwrecked, searching desperately for any sign of rescue. Amy bit her tongue, forcing herself not to ask why, letting Jake take his time to explain. She seemed to not be asking why very loudly however, as after a long pause Jake sighed and continued hesitatingly.

 

“You see…my Dad left my Mum and me when I was seven. He cheated on her a lot, and finally just walked out, leaving us to fend for ourselves…from then on, well… I just don’t like cheating.”

 

Amy didn’t know what to say. She’d never seen Jake this raw, this vulnerable. She wondered if Sophia had.

 

“I’m sorry, Jake, that’s really awful. I get why you were upset, I was completely unjustified in coming up here.”

 

Amy stood to go, ashamed and embarrassed, not knowing where to look.

 

“No, don’t worry, it’s ok” Jake grabbed her arm to stop her going “I get how it looked, and I should explain.”

 

Amy wondered if Jake could feel her heartbeat through his grip on her wrist. Slowly, Amy sat back down, once again letting Jake collect his thoughts before explaining.

 

“See, since there was no one at home to look after me after school, I went to my Nana’s most afternoons. Gina came with me. Nana’s really sweet, and she would cook for us, and play games with us, and try to help us with our homework, and now… now, she’s kind of sick, and can’t really leave her apartment. So, Gina and I visit a couple times of week to keep her company- read to her and all that. I…I haven’t told Sophia about any of this, a bit too deep, you know? So, I guess that’s why I lied when you called.”

 

Amy was stumped, two massive emotional revelations in the course of ten minutes from Jake Peralta. It was unprecedented.

 

“Thanks for telling me, Jake” Amy gave him a small smile, prodding him with her elbow to make him meet her gaze. He returned her smile after a second, and Amy felt the tension leave them both.

* * *

 

Amy visited Jake’s grandmother that day, under Jake’s insistence, just to prove that he was telling the truth. She was glad to see him starting to crack jokes about hiring a stunt granny just to mess with her, so she decided to go along with it.

 

Amy was terrified on the walk back to the unhappy building that had caused all the trouble, but Jake insisted that his grandmother would love her, and would be more than happy to have two visits on the same day. He was right. Nana Peralta was the sweetest old lady Amy had ever met, and they happily chatted about books, knitting, and Jake until it was time to say good-bye. She asked Amy about her family, her classes, and her hobbies. Amy mentioned that her favourite meal as a child had been pork chops, and Jake had almost had to physically restrain the wiry old lady to stop her cooking Amy a four course meal there and then.

 

There was one tense moment when she said that Amy and Jake were a ‘lovely couple’, but Amy assumed that she had simply got confused and forgotten that Jake’s girlfriend was Sophia. Jake corrected his grandmother gently before quickly moving the conversation on to Nana Peralta’s favourite TV show, Law and Order.

* * *

 

On the walk out of the building, Jake nudged her with his shoulder.

 

“Thoughts?”

 

“Oh, Pinapples, it was great.”

 

Jake winced “so you picked up on that.”

 

“You bet I did, Pineapples.”

 

“I hate you.”

 

“Such angry words, Pineapples.”

 

Jake laughed and they went their separate ways: Amy to explain to Kylie in the vaguest of terms that Jake definitely wasn’t cheating on Sophia, Jake to stare contemplatively out his window, and wonder how exactly he’d ended up telling Amy Santiago more in half an hour that he’d told any other single person in his life.


	6. Truth and Daring

After the cheating debacle, henceforth only to be referred to as ‘the Mistake’, Amy found herself growing closer to Jake. It wasn’t like they had deep conversations everyday or anything, but there was a level of understanding between them that hadn’t been there before. There were times when he would turn up to the apartment, give Sophia a customary kiss on the cheek, but Amy could tell that he was upset. There were times when she would turn up to class with an extra skip in her step after getting a good mark back, and he would high-five her on sight. There were times where Amy felt that Jake could say in one look more than most people could manage in a library. She didn’t reflect on that last part much.

 

Things got back to normal pretty quickly, with Friday evening hang outs continuing to evolve into a kind of weekly chill session, where those who wanted to drink, drank, and those who didn’t would look on with amusement. One such evening arose almost two weeks after the Mistake.

 

“Charles, don’t even _think_ about putting those fish guts anywhere near my fridge.”

 

“But Gina, they’ve been aged in white vinegar and duck juice for-”

 

“Don’t want to know, just get rid of it!”

 

“Someone pass the remote, if this chick is going to keep talking about aural energy I want something to put through the TV.”

 

“Come on, Rosa, she literally just said the sentence ‘aural focuses on what’s deep inside our centre’, this is basically free porn!”

 

“Porn would have fewer hippies and more whips, Jake.”

 

“Ok, too much information, I’m getting a drink.”

 

“No, Ames, come back! Rosa was just talking about sex, I’m sure she’ll draw some diagrams if you don’t understand.”

 

“Can it, Jake!”

 

“Jake, Jake, Jake, she just said ‘if you don’t go hard in life your energy will become inert and weak’!”

 

“Not you too Sophia!”

 

“That happened to my energy once…”

 

“Charles!” the entire gathering groaned in unison. Amy couldn’t help but grin to herself as she popped open a bottle of beer. These moments of mindless chatter early on in the evening were her favourites, before anyone got drunk, or Charles started crying.

 

The majority of the group were slouched on Gina’s pristine white couch, squashing the various colourful throw pillows. Jake sat with his arm around Sophia, Charles on his other side turning to talk animatedly with his date. She was a nice girl called Genevieve, just the right kind of weird for Charles. Gina’s date, an amateur model called Antonio, sat at the end of the couch, passing occasional comments to Gina about the feng shui of the room. Rosa sat on the floor, back to the wall, feet planted on the ground and one arm resting on her knee, the other occupied with bringing a beer to her lips. Shoulder to shoulder with her sat Marcus, Rosa’s boyfriend of three months that she was only just introducing to the group. Gina paced the apartment, messing around with lights and trying to get the ambiance ‘just right’.

 

As Amy settled down on the couch next to Sophia, she realised that the conversation had turned to potential games for the night.

 

“Ring of fire?” Marcus suggested.

 

“No” Gina dismissed the idea “too vanilla. We should do something exciting tonight.”

 

“Let’s wash each oth-”

 

“No! No hair washing, stop suggesting that!” Jake cut Charles off vehemently. Charles pouted and Genevieve patted his hand consolingly.

 

“Strip poker” Rosa called out.

 

“Poker takes too much energy…” Gina whined.

 

“Strip truth or dare?” Antonio suggested, casually flexing one perfectly sculpted bicep.

 

“We’re not in high school,” Amy objected, but Gina’s interest was piqued.

 

“Yeah, like you played truth or dare in high school,” Jake accurately pointed out.

 

“Not a bad idea you seamless work of nature” Gina addressed Antonio, stroking her chin thoughtfully “we haven’t played that before. Everyone?”

 

A general mumbling of ascent went through the room, leaving Amy to stare around in disbelief.

 

“Are you guys serious? Truth or dare? Stripping?” she tried not to let her voice squeak on the last word, and didn’t really succeed.

 

“What’s the matter Amy, afraid you might accidentally find out what a naked guy looks like?” Jake smirked at her.

 

“Yeah, I didn’t bring my sunglasses, I’m not ready for all that pasty white skin.”

 

“Shut up, I’m beautiful.”

 

“Ok” Gina raised her voice to interrupt their bickering “then it’s decided. Make a circle everyone, we’re playing truth or dare!”

* * *

 After much lobbying from Amy it was decided that if people weren’t comfortable stripping, they could take a shot instead if they didn’t want to follow through on a truth or dare. The game started in an uneventful manner, with questions relating to present and past crushes, and dares to text exes. After a few rounds, Rosa, who had considered stripping lame, had taken three shots, one simply to avoid divulging her middle name. Charles had removed a shoe when someone had dared him to throw away his gross food, and Antonio was already down to his boxers, although his shoes and socks somehow remained untouched. Gina was not complaining.

 

“Ok, Ames” Jake turned to Amy with a devilish smile “truth or dare?”

 

“Truth.”

 

“Lame!” he glared at her “that’s the fourth time.”

 

“You can’t say I’m not consistent” Amy replied, not budging.

 

“Fine.” Jake narrowed his eyes in concentration “what’s your most secret turn on?”

 

“No!” Amy almost yelped, reddening.

 

“Is it something really embarrassing? Is it old guys? The duodecimal system? Handle bar moustaches?”

 

“Shut up, I’m not answering the question” Amy gulped a shot quickly, wincing as the vodka burned down her throat.

 

“Leave her alone, Jake” Sophia intervened, shooting her boyfriend a reproving look.

 

“It was just scholarly curiosity, I’m surprised Amy even knows what ‘turn on’ means.”

 

“Sure I do” Amy shot back “it’s just the opposite of what any sane person feels around you. No offense Sophia.”

 

“Oh my god” Sophia groaned “can’t you guys just play nice? Ok, here’s a dare for both of you: say something nice about each other.”

 

Jake and Amy stared at each other blankly as the others gasped dramatically, practically crunching on popcorn as they observed the exchange. Amy watched Jake curiously, wondering if he would go with a joke, or else a general and safe compliment like ‘good student’. He seemed to be floundering though, making it pretty much the first time Amy had seen Jake lost for words.

_Is there nothing he likes about me?_ A little voice inside Amy questioned, but she shook it off. Finally, she decided to throw him a bone.

 

“He makes me laugh,” she stated with a shrug, the others letting out ‘awws’ and gagging sounds. Amy gave Jake a half smile and looked at him expectantly. A strange look had come into Jake’s eyes, a kind of softness combined with something else. Confusion? Surprise? Wonder?

 

“She… I care about her opinion” Jake responded, not averting his gaze from Amy. His smile was gentle, but his eyes sparked with intensity. Gina mimed being sick, and Amy felt her cheeks colour; from embarrassment or pleasure she wasn’t sure.

 

“See, was that so bad?” Sophia’s voice broke the spell. She looked content, and not at all put out by the exchange. Slowly Jake looked away from Amy and back at Sophia. He smiled after a moment and kissed Sophia’s cheek, shaking himself slightly as he settled back into his seat with a rueful grin.

 

“Ok, I’ve got a question for the group” Charles piped up “if you were catch your professor selling drugs, would you a) ignore it, b) turn them in, or c) blackmail them into giving you a good grade?”

 

“That’s specific.” Rosa snorted “what? You catch Holt moving crack or something?”

 

“Oh my god, I don’t know if I would find that horrifying or amazing” Jake chortled.

 

“Horrifying!” Amy protested, “who would be my mentor then?”

 

“It’s just a question someone in my psych class asked” Charles raised his voice to be heard over the brewing argument.

 

“My man, the psychologist” Genevieve sighed, smitten. “Who knows what twisted things are going on in that head of his?” She stroked Charles’s arm teasingly, and he turned back to her with a grin.

 

“Oh, you’ll find out later tonight, baby…”

 

“Gross!” Gina objected, covering her ears and screwing her eyes shut “someone answer the question so we can move on!”

 

Sophia cocked her head in thought, considering the question seriously “would turning the professor in affect my grade?”

 

“Yup” Charles tore his attention away from Genevieve and back to the conversation “you would fail the class.”

 

“Then I would do nothing.” Sophia nodded her head slightly, driving home her choice.

 

“What?” Jake looked down at her, nonplussed “no way, I’d turn the guy in. I’d get a kickass story out of it, and get rid of a skeevy professor, all in a day’s work.”

 

“Such a kickass story” Sophia rolled her eyes “this one time I told on my teacher, it was awesome!”

 

“It’s the principle of the thing” Jake was looking more serious now “by not doing anything, you’re basically assisting them.”

 

“He or she was already selling drugs for who knows how long, by not doing anything you stay out of the situation. If you were to blackmail them, _then_ you would become culpable.”

 

“I don’t know what culpable means, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how the law works.”

 

“If you’re smart it is.”

 

“It’s not the right thing to do.”

 

“It’s all very well to say that now, but you have to be honest with yourself. Everyone likes to think they’d be moral in a situation like that, but it’s all crap.” Sophia was looking peeved now, and turned to Amy, who had been shrinking in her seat, staring fixedly at her hands and mentally chanting _don’t involve me, don’t involve me, don’t involve me._

 

“Amy” Sophia began, and Amy inwardly groaned “you care about your grades, you’ve got to agree with me.”

 

“Umm” Amy met Sophia’s expectant gaze anxiously, and then glanced at Jake, who was eyeballing the wall, resigned to being declared wrong “well…not really.”

Sophia and Jake both stared at Amy, surprised. Amy was equally astonished; she had just sided with irritating, childish Jake over mature, confident Sophia.

 

“You know, drugs do a lot of harm, and, well” Amy gulped “I wouldn’t make a very good future captain if I let more of them get onto the street because of a stupid A.”

 

The rest of the group had watched the exchange in awkward silence, not wanting to get involved in what had devolved in a couple’s spat.

 

“Ok, new question” Gina piped up “Rosa, truth or dare?”

 

As the others enthusiastically got back into the flow of the game, Amy couldn’t help but feel the tenseness in Sophia sitting next to her. Jake’s arm was still around the other girl’s shoulders, but they were looking in different directions, lost in thought.

 

Eventually the game broke into everyone just calling out questions to each other, abandoning the stripping and shots. Antonio didn’t seem to get the memo, as he remained gloriously uninhibited in his boxers.

 

It was divulged that Sophia had lost her virginity at 16, Marcus had once asked a girl out who turned out to be an escort, Genevieve had once eaten bull’s penis and enjoyed it, Gina had a whole cupboard just for lingerie, and Charles had once slept with a 68 year old. The last one hadn’t even been a question; Charles had randomly volunteered the information. Rosa, unsurprisingly, had revealed nothing.

 

“Ok, Amy” Amy was pinned down by Rosa’s gaze “if you had to bone someone in this room, who would it be?”

 

“Hah, she’s already red!” Gina crowed from her seat on Antonio’s lap.

 

“It’s just awkward” Amy tried to keep her voice level “all the guys here are in relationships.”

 

“You can pick a girl,” Rosa offered.

 

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be truthful though…” Amy surveyed the guys in the room warily. Marcus, Antonio, Charles and Jake. Finally, she sighed in exasperation “Jake, I guess, I know him the best.”

 

“Yes!” Jake pumped his fist in the air “I get to take Amy’s hypothetical virginity.”

 

“You wish” Amy sneered. Jake just smiled at her wickedly.

 

“I would love to see Amy date someone she had class with” Rosa snorted, “her brain would explode.”

 

Amy ducked her head, wishing herself home, under the covers with a good book.

 

“Hey, don’t worry, Ames” Jake pulled her out of her shame spiral “aside from Sophia, I’d pick you. Gina and Genevieve would be weird in different ways, and Rosa would be just plain scary.”

 

Amy pretended to look irritated at the comment, but smiled inwardly as the conversation moved away from her and onto what celebrity would be the best in bed.

* * *

 

After that, the party slowly started to disband. Charles and Genevieve set off first, followed by Rosa and Marcus, and then Sophia, Jake and Amy. Sophia and Jake walked just ahead of Amy, talking softly and holding hands. Amy glanced up at the sky, where a dull orange light obscured the stars, and smiled. Overall it had been a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you think worked/didn't work. Thanks so much to everyone who's been commenting, the next chapter's going to be a pretty big one.


	7. The Party

****Jake was having an odd kind of morning. Well, he’d been having a lot of odd mornings recently. See, usually Jake was one to laze in bed for up to an hour after waking, before eventually dragging himself into the world of the living. The past couple weeks though, he would wake up in Sophia’s bed, and just get up and go into the kitchen. Sophia would never stir, seemingly possessing the ability to sleep through a small earthquake without even twitching. Jake supposed this new eagerness to face the day might have something to do with that whole ‘maturing’ thing people always told him would happen. He hoped not. Alternately, it could have something to do with the company he would always find in the kitchen.

 

Amy was almost offensively perky in the mornings, having most likely already been up for an hour when Jake emerged. She would greet him with a smile and they would chat contentedly over coffee about weird dreams, or their plans for the day, or whatever gruesome murder Amy had dug out of the paper. It had turned into a bit of a routine. Jake even found himself missing it whenever he woke up in his own apartment, and actually started looking at news sites just to have something to bring up with Amy the next time he saw her.

_Is it weird that I get on so well with my girlfriend’s roommate?_ Jake wondered as he stared up at Sophia’s ceiling. _No_ he decided, _it’s perfectly natural_. After all, they spent a lot of time together, in and out of class, and he really liked talking to her. It would probably be the same if he woke up and talked to Gina or Rosa everyday. Maybe.

 

Jake shook such thoughts from his head and rolled out of bed, running a hand through his hair before opening the door. Sure enough, Amy Santiago was at the kitchen counter, studying the paper as if it was going to come up on an exam. She already had two cups of coffee steaming beside her, having got into the habit of making one for Jake at the time he normally woke up.

 

“Morning” Jake greeted her in a singsong voice, swiping up one mug and clinking it with hers on the table.

 

“Hey” Amy replied distractedly.

 

“What’s up?” Jake cocked his head “did they discontinue your favourite line of highlighters?”

 

“No, and don’t even joke about that. Have you heard about this law student party tonight?” Amy finally looked up from her paper, her brow furrowed and brooding.

 

“Yeah, Sophia mentioned. She wants me to go with her, it sounds kind of lame if you ask me.”

 

“If you ask me, it sounds terrifying” Amy clenched her jaw, her mouth tight.

 

“Do you have to go?”

 

“Yeah, Sophia asked me. She said that it would be good for me, meet new people. I think she’s trying to set me up with someone.”

 

“And that makes you mad?” Jake noted the tenseness in her shoulders and the way her fingers restlessly drummed across her coffee cup.

 

“No, it’s just…I haven’t been on a date so far this year, and if it’s one of Sophia’s pre-law friends, it’s going to be some super ambitious guy with a big ego. And it’s going to be at a house party where I don’t know anyone and everyone’s going to be getting drunk and hooking up and there’s no escape and…the whole thing just doesn’t sound like something I’ll enjoy, or be good at.” She’d taken to distractedly tugging on the ends of her hair, tied up in a loose ponytail, creating slight curls in the otherwise sleek locks.

 

“Relax, Ames” Jake adopted a reassuring smile, a tremor of affection making his chest feel warm “it’ll be fine. If Sophia found the guy, I’m sure he’s not a total jerk. Besides, if it sucks, you can just ditch him and come hang with us. It’ll be nice having you there anyway, last time Sophia dragged me to one of these things she just talked about corporate law for three hours with a bunch of guys, four of whom were called Alex.” Amy still didn’t seem reassured.

 

“If it gets really boring we can play beer pong,” he offered.

 

“Really?” Amy’s face lit up.

 

“Oh yeah, I’m not letting you get away with that underhand victory from last time.”

 

“Underhand? You made me retake that last shot three times!”

 

“I had Charles on my team, the only way I could have won was if you taped the cup to his face!”

 

“Sorry, Peralta, but if you’re hoping to win tonight, you’re going to have to take a nap, because it’ll be in your dreams!” she poked his chest, looking up with him with dark, challenging eyes.

 

“I hope you’ve got your birth certificate handy, because after tonight you’re going to have to change your name to ‘Amy Pathetic At Everything She Tries In Life Santiago’.” Jake poked her back, just below her ribs, making her squeak.

 

“I do, in fact, have my birth certificate, as well as three photocopies stored at various locations, it doesn’t matter though. I’m just glad I bought a new mop last week, because we’re going to need it for your tears” Amy was squaring up to him now, arms folded across her chest as she struggled to conceal the grin that threatened to spread across her face.

 

“You know, most smack talk doesn’t involve cleaning supplies,” Jake pointed out, mirroring her stance.

 

“Said with the bitterness of a loser.”

 

“Said with the cowardice of a coward!”

 

It was at that point that Jake realised that maybe he was standing a little too close to Amy. Their folded arms were almost brushing, making Jake’s skin tingle with electricity. He coughed and took a step back, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to hide the awkwardness he was suddenly feeling.

 

“Fine” Amy retook her seat, avoiding his eyes as picked up her paper “maybe the party won’t be too horrendous. Now leave me alone, doofus, I need to finish this article.”

* * *

The Pembroke house was a big brownstone, already filling up with drunk college students when Jake, Amy and Sophia arrived. Thudding music made Jake’s eyeballs shake in his skull, and the air was a concoction of cigarette smoke, sweat and booze. The guests all seemed to be the most well-connected and entitled members of the university, which, according to Sophia, made this a ‘valuable networking opportunity’.

 

The party itself was…interesting. It got off to a rocky start, with Sophia introducing her friend Luke to Amy with an arch smile and knowing wink. Jake could tell immediately that this guy was no good for Amy; he seemed to have one eyebrow permanently tattooed into a quizzical arch, a smarmy smirk adorning a mouth that was just begging to be punched. On first introduction, he had looked over Amy appreciatively before launching into a long monologue focusing on the wonder that was Luke Mueller. Sophia tugged Jake away from the pair by his hand, clearly wanting them to get to know each other better.

 

“What are you doing setting Amy up with that guy?” Jake frowned at his girlfriend, who was too busy beaming politely at acquaintances to notice.

 

“I thought they were a good fit. Amy needs someone to bring her out of her shell, and Luke’s a good guy. Why, don’t you think they work?”

 

Jake glanced over his shoulder at the couple, noting how Amy’s shoulders had hunched slightly and her smile had lost its usual brightness.

 

“Hold on a second” he muttered to Sophia, making his way back through the growing throng of guests.

 

“Hey, dude” Jake smacked Luke on the shoulder amiably, making him look round from Amy.

 

“Hello” the guy took in Jake’s scruffy attire and adopted a sneer, thinly veiled as a polite smile.

 

“I think your car’s getting towed” Jake continued, casually taking a swig of his beer. Behind the guy, Amy was giving him a look that said ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know it’s stupid’. Jake did his best to reassure her with a subtle eyebrow twitch, but she didn’t look impressed.

 

“What?” the guy snorted, “I don’t think so.”

 

“Silver Prius, right? I’d hurry man, they didn’t look like they were being too gentle with it.”

 

“Damn!” Luke turned and stormed out the door, cussing at anything that moved. Jake moved quickly, propelling Amy by her shoulders deeper into the house, finally deciding that they were at a safe distance in the kitchen.

 

“Why’d you do that?” Amy turned to him, peeved.

 

“The guy’s car was totally getting towed, I swear!” Amy didn’t believe him for a second.

 

“How’d you even know he had a car?”

 

“Firstly, did you see the guy? Of course he had a car. Secondly, it’s pouring outside and his fancy shoes are bone dry.”

 

“And silver Prius?”

 

“I saw a silver Prius outside with a number plate that said ‘LM4WIN’. Seemed like a good match.”

 

Amy scowled at him, trying not to look impressed “and what if I was having a good time?”

 

“Were you?”

 

“Well, no…”

 

“Hah!” Jake triumphed, leading the way out of the kitchen to find Sophia.

* * *

Jake started having a good time after that. Sure, he had to stand at Sophia’s side while she mingled with various pompous lawyer-types, but he and Amy would whisper comments and jokes to each other to keep themselves entertained. Suddenly, Amy spotted a beer pong table and started frantically pulling on Jake’s arm. Jake laughed down at her before turning to Sophia.

 

“Hey, Sophia, would it be ok if Ames and I played beer pong?”

 

Sophia nodded distractedly, waving them away with one hand.

 

“You’re the best!” Jake crooned, pecking Sophia on the cheek before allowing Amy to pull him away.

* * *

They dominated at beer pong. The first two rounds they faced one another, their competitiveness growing with every drink as they attempted increasingly ambitious shots. Finally, other partygoers started complaining that they were hogging the table, so Amy and Jake teamed up to face all challengers. It became apparent pretty quickly that they were an unstoppable team, high fiving after every successful shot and egging one another on.

 

“Boom!” Amy crowed, eyes ablaze with pride as her Ping-Pong ball bounced into the final solo cup. The three guys they’d been facing groaned in defeat, one of them swallowing the contents of the cup with a grimace.

 

“That’s right!” Jake high-fived Amy and grinned, enjoying the slow burn of alcohol in his stomach, and laughing as Amy went into one of her patented victory dances.

 

“Oi!” a brash voice broke through their triumph. Amy and Jake turned to find a big guy in a letterman’s jacket scowling at them, flanked by two beefy friends.

 

“S’up?” Jake tried for friendly, but this guy wasn’t having any of it.

 

“You two punks are bugging me, and this is _my_ house.”

_The Vulture_ , Jake dragged up the memory of a distant conversation with Sophia, where she described how this guy got by in pre-law by tacking his name onto other people’s assignments and sucking up to the teachers.

 

“Sorry” Amy smiled uncertainly, trying to avoid conflict “we’ll go then.”

 

“I don’t think so,” the guy snorted, slamming a meaty hand onto the table “I think you two should play me and my buddies.”

 

“Dangerous request, the ball’s only just smaller than his brain” Amy muttered so only Jake could hear. He had to repress a smile.

 

“Ok” Jake shrugged, already thoroughly fed up of the guy’s attitude. He glanced at Amy and gave her an almost imperceptible nod. _Let’s let these guys have it._ Amy smiled slightly in response, understanding the message.

 

What followed was the opposite of the good-natured games Jake and Amy had been enjoying previously. The Vulture would swear loudly and shout excuses whenever he missed a shot, snapping at his friends whenever they did the same. Whenever it was Jake or Amy’s turn, he would comment sneeringly and jostle the table, and when they got it in would glare at them as if he was hoping that lasers would suddenly spring from his eyes and incinerate his opponents. Finally, they were down to one cup on each side, with Jake stepping up to the table. He took aim carefully. Between them he and Amy had probably consumed a couple pints of beer each, but Jake was still confident he could do this. He bounced the ball towards the cup, and let out a whoop of glee when he saw it was about to go in.

 

A hand smacked the ball out of the air with an ugly laugh.

 

“Oh no, look what happened” the Vulture spat goadingly, before tossing his own ball quickly at Jake and Amy’s cup. With a small _plunk_ the ball found its target, signalling the end of the game. As the Vulture and his cronies whooped and guffawed, Jake and Amy looked at each other disgustedly.

 

“Let’s go” Amy muttered with an irritated flick of her head. Jake was just about to agree when the Vulture shouted to him.

 

“What, _Joke Peralta_ , you’re not going to finish your drink?”

 

Jake turned back to Pembroke with a scowl. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he felt Amy tense at his side. He forced himself to keep his cool. With a grimace he gulped down the beer, tossing the cup back onto the table, and setting off through the rest of the party with Amy at his side, ignoring the Vulture’s jeers.

 

“That guy’s a jerk” Amy murmured, small fists clenched at her side.

 

“You kidding, he’s my new best friend.” Jake replied with a bitter edge to his voice.

 

“We kicked ass at beer pong though” Amy offered with a tiny smile, nudging Jake’s arm to pull him out of his brooding.

 

Jake took a deep breath and returned Amy’s smile “yeah, we did.”

* * *

If that had been the last time Jake and Amy encountered the Vulture that night, the evening may have passed in an unremarkable way, with Jake coming up with games to pass the time until Sophia was ready to go home. However, it was not to be. About an hour later, Jake was handing Amy a fresh drink as they watched Sophia from a distance chatting to a group of women who looked like they were born with brief cases in one hand and cell phones in the other.

 

“Hey, you two” an unpleasantly jovial voice made the pair turn, facing the unwelcome sight of a very intoxicated Vulture lurching towards them

 

“How’re my favourite beer pong buddies doing? No hard feelings?” he slapped Jake on the backside, sending a tense jolt up his spine.

 

“Sure” Jake smiled tightly, hoping the Vulture would leave it at that. He didn’t. His bloodshot eyes settled on Amy and a slow leer settled across his face.

 

“Hey gorgeous. Emma, wasn’t it?”

 

“Amy.” She glowered, giving the Vulture a look that said ‘if I were legally allowed to tie people to moving vehicles by their balls, you’d be halfway to Vermont at this point’.

 

“Well, if I didn’t say it before I’ll say it now. You’re foxy, sister” the Vulture leant against the wall next to Amy, close enough for her eyes to water at his breath.

 

“I’m not your sister.”

 

“You got any brothers or sisters?” the Vulture continued conversationally, systematically working his way closer to Amy. Jake clenched his fists as the Vulture ogled Amy, but he noted the flare of danger in Amy’s eye, and held himself back.

 

“Seven brothers.”

 

“Ooh, scary. They look out for you?” he wrapped an arm around Amy’s waist, pulling her towards him.

 

“They don’t need to” Amy replied, before unceremoniously kicking the Vulture in the shins. Hard.

 

Her mouth twisted in triumph as the big man’s face crumpled and he curled in on himself, releasing Amy and rubbing his injured leg. His brawny friends from earlier, on hearing the sounds of their leader’s distress, charged through a nearby doorway, just in time to be neatly tripped up by Jake. They tumbled into the suffering Vulture, and the three of them collapsed in a satisfying heap on the floor.

 

“Get off you idiots! Grab them, see if they like having their heads dunked in punch for ten minutes at a time!” the Vulture’s voice raged, slightly muffled by the hairy arm of one of his friends.

 

Jake took a moment to appreciate the struggling pile of bodies, before he grabbed Amy’s hand and raced out of the room, the Vulture’s threats close on their heels. They bounded upstairs, shoving past partygoers and spilling drinks.

 

“You two dare to embarrass _me_ in _my house_?” the Vulture’s voice fumed behind them “I’m going to make you wish you’d crawled back into your mothers by your umbilical cord before you were even born!”

 

“Here!” Amy tugged at Jake’s hand, dragging him towards an innocuous door halfway down the sparsely furnished corridor. The pair bundled in, finding themselves in a tightly packed storage closet, with just enough space for two panting college students to stand. Amy quickly closed the door behind them, blocking out the irate voices outside, but leaving a crack just wide enough to peak through. She and Jake huddled together, peeping out, Jake’s warmth breath ruffling Amy’s hair, and his hand on the small of her back. They froze as the Vulture stormed past with his cronies, not noticing their little cupboard as he swore and bounded up the next flight of stairs.

 

Jake and Amy straightened, sighing in relief.

 

It was at this point that Jake realised just how close he and Amy were standing, their faces mere centimetres apart. In the faint light seeping through the crack in the door, he could make out the flush of Amy’s cheeks, her slightly dishevelled hair and wide smile, her teeth gleaming like pearls. Her eyes were dark and intense, blazing like coal, burning up all the oxygen in Jake’s lungs.

 

“Nice work, partner” Amy whispered, her breath grazing his cheek.

 

“Not so bad yourself, Ames.”

 

Their eyes met. Jake had never felt so exposed in his life, as if Amy’s gaze relieved him of any need to be anything he wasn’t, but at the same time made him so much more. He felt like every nerve in his body was on the point of firing, as if he was teetering on the lip of a precipice and was about to jump. He glanced down at Amy’s mouth, and then back to her eyes. _Had she just done the same?_ Without really realising how it had happened, Jake noticed that their faces were even closer together than before. Amy was looking up at him with big doe eyes, and all he wanted to do was kiss her. His heart felt like it was trying to hammer through his chest, as if even it wanted to be closer to Amy. Her lips were slightly parted and so, so inviting.

Jake’s entire attention was focused on the tingling static invading the diminishing space that divided his and Amy’s lips, his entire body prickling with a heat that had nothing to do with the confined space. He hadn’t even realised that his eyes had closed, until a voice screaming through his head made him snap them back open.

 

 _No!_ The voice yelled, making him stumble back against the wall of the closet, banging his elbow. _This isn’t right!_ The voice reverberated through his head _this isn’t fair on Sophia! This isn’t fair on Amy!_

 

“Uh” Jake coughed, trying and failing to keep his voice level “we should get back. Find Sophia.”

 

“Oh, right, of course.” Amy wasn’t looking at him now, and she was biting her lip. For the first time that night, Jake couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

* * *

 Jake and Amy searched for Sophia in silence. When they found her, Jake quickly explained the run in with the Vulture, and Sophia had rolled her eyes but agreed to leave the party. Jake and Amy barely glanced at each other on the way back to Amy and Sophia’s apartment. At the door to their building, Jake stopped and coughed awkwardly.

 

“Uh, actually, I’m pretty tired, I think I’ll just crash at mine tonight” he offered Sophia an apologetic smile and turned away before she could protest, not daring to let his gaze stray to Amy.

 

“I’ll call you!” he shouted over his shoulder, pulling up the collar of his leather jacket against the rain that had started falling again.

 

When Jake reached his own apartment, he leant against the front door and groaned. He had nearly kissed _Amy_ , his _girlfriend’s_ _roommate_. He had nearly _cheated_. With cold clarity he remembered the day Amy had come to him, embarrassed and upset, asking if he was cheating on Sophia with Gina. The idea had been so preposterous, deviating so far from Jake’s idea of himself, that he’d almost laughed. That was, if he hadn’t been nearly shaking with anger. Now though…now he was basically turning into his father…

 

“Jakey” Charles’s voice broke through Jake’s reverie and he glanced up at his roommate.

 

“You don’t look so good, buddy, what’s up?”

 

“Nothing, Charles.”

 

“Did something happen at the party? Did you fight with Sophia?”

 

“No.”

 

“Is it to do with Amy?” something in his friend’s voice made Jake meet Charles’s gaze.

 

“How did you…? Yeah…I guess it is.” Charles studied his friend.

 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“I really, really don’t.” Jake pushed away from the front door he’d been leaning against and striding towards his bedroom.

 

“You know you’re a good guy, right Jake? I mean, you know that you’re nothing like your father, right?” Charles’s voice seemed to cut right through Jake, making his fists clench.

 

He didn’t reply, carefully avoiding Charles’s gaze.

 

“I’m going to bed.”

 

He brushed past Charles, the slam of his door decisively cutting off the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Dustin Whitman calls Jake "Joke Peralta", not the Vulture, but I wanted to include as many references to the show that I could, so I hope no one minds. We're quickly approaching the half way point of this story, and I just want to thank everyone who has been reading from the start and commenting, or anyone who's just read all this in one go. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the story! Also, I might have to bump up the rating in a couple chapter's time, so I hope no one minds.


	8. A Dragon and a Teddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess who turns up in this chapter? After all, we wouldn't want Jake and Amy to have an easy time getting together.

 

Amy, Jake, Sophia, Rosa, Charles and Genevieve were at a winter carnival. Each breath they took formed puffs of condensed air, and snow lay in drifts on the ground, but the six college students didn’t mind. Gina was not present, as she had “retained her right to not freeze her ass off”. Charles had suggested it, something to break up the monotony of classes, and, despite the cold, Jake couldn’t help but think that it was a good idea.

 

It had been two weeks since the weirdness of the Pembroke party, and Jake was finally starting to feel normal again. He’d spent most of the past couple weeks trying to convince himself that the closet moment hadn’t happened. Hell, it couldn’t have, could it? There was no way _Amy_ had ever wanted to kiss _him_. That notwithstanding, there was no way _he_ had wanted to kiss _Amy_ , right? Sure, she was kind, and funny, and smart, and plenty attractive, but he had a girlfriend. That was that…. _and if it wasn’t?_ Well, he definitely wasn’t ready to deal with that.

 

For his own sanity, Jake had just about managed to chalk the entire incident up to a delusion brought on by too much alcohol, and adrenalin from running away from a semi-sentient Garbage Patch Kid. Despite these reassurances however, Jake still took careful steps to bypass any tense moments with Amy. He diligently avoided spending any time alone with her (it sucked, but it worked), and he made an effort to take Sophia out more (he wasn’t sure if she noticed, but it made him feel better. Not that he had any residual guilt or anything. Not that there was anything to be guilty about…never mind).

 

Finally, Jake felt things starting to slot back into their rightful places, he was even starting to think that he could trust himself around Amy again. Which was nice, since it meant that he could relax and enjoy the carnival, surrounded by his best friends.

* * *

The group drifted between the brightly coloured booths dotted throughout the carnival ground, picking up junk food and trying their hand at rigged games. Jake felt a blossom of contentment in his chest as he sat with his friends at a table next to the bumper cars, having just finished three rounds of highly competitive and violent fun.

 

“This is the life, just necking with my girl, all our friends watching us” Charles sighed happily.

 

“Charles!” Jake objected, “did you have to say it like that?”

 

“What? Genevieve and I are eating roast goat neck, you’re welcome to try some, Jakey.”

 

“I’m good, thanks buddy” Jake grimaced, leaning against Sophia, sitting at his side on the cracked bench.

 

“What’s that?” Amy pointed, finishing securing her ponytail after it had come lose during the bumper car tournament, gesturing to a small crowd of people gathering nearby.

 

“Don’t care” Rosa didn’t even glance over, leaning back against the table, her eyes fused shut against the grey sunlight.

 

She had broken up with Marcus, which the others were only able to assume after he hadn’t turned up at the last three meet ups. It was hard to tell if she was upset or not, but when Charles had tried to probe her about it, Rosa had broken his laptop over her knee.

 

“Let’s check it out” Sophia stood, pulling Jake behind her. One by one the group followed, leaving Rosa to her silent and vaguely threatening meditation.

 

What they found was a small yellow and red booth, where a woman stood, handing bibi guns to tourists. The players would then shoot at smiley and frowny faces that popped out at random intervals from a cut out landscape of the old west. The paint was chipped, and there was a regular ‘twang’ from the spring-loaded mechanism powering the game, but it seemed charming, in a rustic, was-around-before-smiling-was-even-invented kind of way.

 

“Fun” Sophia snorted, watching a young boy furiously shooting pellets at a particularly truculent frowny face.

 

“Yep” Jake agreed, “let’s play!”

 

“I’m no good with guns” Sophia shook her head “but you and Amy can do it, if you like.”

 

“Ames?” Jake shot Amy a questioning look and she grinned.

 

“Let’s show them how it’s done.”

 

They queued patiently for their turn, giggling as an old guy accidentally shot the woman managing the stall in the hand. They quickly figured out that you earned different prizes depending on your score. There were five categories, entitled: Better Luck Next Time, You’re Not The Worst, Not Too Shabby, You’re Pretty Good At This, and The Most Super Double Extra Triple Awesome Score Ever.

 

“We are so getting the top level,” Jake said confidently, bumping Amy with his shoulder.

 

“Oh yeah, no way am I settling for ‘You’re Pretty Good At This’. A teacher once wrote that my essay was ‘pretty great’, and I didn’t leave my room for a week.”

 

“Sure, that’s a totally normal reaction-” Jake began, a warm glow settling in his stomach at the familiar patter, but was cut off when one of the guys queuing ahead of them spun around.

 

“Amy? Amy Santiago?” the guy asked, his expression one of pleased surprise.

 

“Teddy?” Amy looked startled, her eyes wide.

 

“Wow, I thought it was you! It’s so good to run into you” the guy laughed at nothing in particular “I haven’t seen you since that lecture series on statistics.”

 

“Yeah, Professor Asfase’s class! How’ve you been?”

 

“Wait” Jake interrupted “Ames, you had a teacher called ‘Asfase’ and didn’t tell me? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

 

“Oh, right” Amy glanced back at him in surprise, as if she’d forgotten he was there “Jake, this is Teddy Wells. Teddy, this is Jake Peralta; he’s my roommate’s boyfriend.”

_Not friend, or classmate_ Jake noted _‘roommate’s boyfriend.’_

 

“Nice to meet you, Jake” Teddy offered Jake a hand that he reluctantly took.

 

The guy bugged him. Jake couldn’t put his finger on why, but he did. He had a square-ish head, a strong jaw and short brown hair. He was taller than Jake, with broad shoulders and the physique of a man who took care of himself. Everything about him was so damn _polished_ , as if he’d just popped out of a factory. He was looking at Amy like he’d just found a lucky penny on the street.

 

“So, you’re trying your luck at this game?” Amy continued conversationally.

 

“Yeah, my buddy and I thought it would be fun. Good luck to you two, by the way.”

 

It was then Teddy’s turn to play the game, leaving Jake to glare at the perfectly cropped hair on the back of the guy’s head. _How could anyone have hair that evenly cut? It was stupid._

 

“Yo” Rosa’s voice behind them made Jake and Amy turn “you guys doing this dumb game?”

 

“Yup.” Jake replied, not really paying attention.

 

“It looks fun. By the way, Teddy’s here” Amy muttered in a low voice.

 

“The guy you dated last year and said all that lame stuff about, like ‘he’s a good listener’?”

 

“Yeah. We went out a couple times, and it was fun, but we were both taking a lot of classes, and we just never had time for each other.”

 

“Weird” was Rosa’s only comment, when Jake felt that a lot more needed to be said.

 

A few minutes later a flurry of movement came from the front of the queue.

 

“184 points! Our first Most Super Double Extra Triple Awesome Score of the day!”

 

The woman running the booth was holding aloft the hands of Teddy and his friend, who smiled politely as the crowd of tourists clapped.

 

“That’s a long title,” Rosa snorted, and Amy agreed. Jake was focused on Teddy, who was grinning in Amy’s direction.

 

“Ok, let’s go, Ames. We’re going to win this thing.”

 

Amy glanced over, surprised at his serious tone, but nodded in agreement. As they took their positions, Jake noticed Amy looking at Teddy on the sidelines, and nudged her to get her attention.

 

“Come on, partner, these frowny faces aren’t going to blow their own brains out.”

 

“So violent” Amy replied with mock-horror, meeting Jake’s gaze with a grin. The game began.

* * *

For the tourists, it was an impressive display. The young man and woman seemed to work with natural synchronicity, their movements smooth and coordinated. Their only conversation was barked warnings and commendations.

 

“On your left!”

 

“Nice one!”

 

“Take that, you frowny menace!”

 

Jake did his best not to glance at Amy, definitely not noticing how her brow furrowed and lips pursed slightly in concentration. Whenever she made a difficult shot, her smile would flash, like a bolt of lightning across a black sky in his periphery. The game ended just as quickly as it began, with Jake nailing the final frowny face right between the eyes.

 

“Yes!” he crowed, high-fiving Amy and smiling down at her.

 

“Good job, Jake!” she met his eyes laughingly.

 

“200 points!” the woman running the booth called “a perfect score.”

 

Jake and Amy whooped, high-fiving again and grinning in triumph.

* * *

 “That thing is seriously creepy” Sophia surveyed the prize Amy and Jake had selected with a frown.

 

“I know, isn’t it?” Jake looked proudly down at the stuffed dragon, admiring the way its eyes went in completely opposite directions “why is this even a prize?”

 

“I don’t know, but it is not allowed to watch us have sex.”

 

“Fine” Jake agreed, “it can live in your living room, welcoming all new-comers to the Perez-Santiago household. Amy will hate it.”

 

“Speaking of Amy, who’s that guy she’s talking to?”

 

“What guy?” Jake glanced up from his position slouched on the bench next to Sophia, finding Amy near the ice sculpture display “um, that’s Teddy, some old flame. Don’t know the details.”

 

Jake kicked the stubbly grass at his feet distractedly, trying not to grit his teeth when Amy’s tinkling laugh reached his ears.

 

“Oh, _that’s_ the famous Teddy” Sophia studied Amy’s companion with interest. Jake frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that.


	9. Dreams and Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a short chapter this time, but there are some more dramatic ones coming up.

_Jake’s breath was coming fast, his speeding heart rate making his whole body shudder. Amy Santiago was below him, naked and writhing as she and Jake urged each other forward. Hot skin soft to touch, lips trailing down supple curves, fingers tightening around each other, salt twanging on the tongue. Jake felt Amy’s breath condensing on his cheek and met her lips in a searing kiss, mouths melding as tongues slid over each other, bodies blending together as fireworks went off in Jake’s head._

_Everything was eagerness and heat, but was rooted in such tenderness that Jake’s heart ached, even as Amy’s touch smoothed the furrows of his mind. A throbbing moan emanated from Amy’s throat and she pulled back, meeting Jake’s gaze, eyes smouldering with the lustre of desire. A smile flickered over her face as she looked up at Jake, fingernails digging into his shoulders._

_“I love you,” she whispered, her soft voice tingling throughout Jake’s body, before she let out a gasping groan and leant back into the pillows, pleasure overtaking her body._

 

Jake woke up with a start, heart still racing and sweat cooling on his brow. He glanced down at Sophia, awake as the dead next to him. He took a couple minutes to try to compose himself, clammy hands running restlessly through already dishevelled hair, before he stumbled to his feet. He pulled a t-shirt over his head, drawing in long, calming breaths.

 

_Just a dream_ he reprimanded himself _chill. You’ve had sex dreams before_. No matter what he thought though, he still couldn’t stop his hands shaking slightly as he reached for the door handle.

 

Still frazzled and wiping sleep from his eyes, Jake made his way into the kitchen, stopping short when he realised that it was already occupied.

 

“Ames?” Jake was surprised, this would normally be too early for even Amy to be up. He peered into the dim kitchen, the halflight from a lamp in the living room tracing the outline of a slight figure.

 

“Oh, hey, Jake” Amy glanced around, colouring.

 

Jake stopped dead. Amy was seemingly wearing nothing but a man’s dress shirt. The hem of the shirt cut off her toned brown legs mid-thigh, the thin fabric flowing around her body suggestive of a lithe waist and smooth curves. It wasn’t fully buttoned, revealing enough caramel skin to send an unwelcome twang of yearning through Jake, but not enough that his imagination wasn’t running wild. She still wore the remnants of make up from earlier in the night, her glossy hair slung into a messy ponytail, as if as an after thought. Her hands were wrapped around two coffee mugs, still steaming.

 

“Date went well?” Jake couldn’t even make his voice pretend to be jovial.

 

“Uh, yeah, I guess. Fourth date, you know, we went to this pilsner tasting.”

 

“Didn’t know you liked pilsners.”

 

“It was fun.” Amy was looking at Jake watchfully, clearly trying to gauge why he wasn’t teasing her relentlessly. Jake forced a rictus grin onto his face and did his best to be normal.

 

“Ok, well, you get back in there, you dog.”

 

Amy rolled her eyes, but was clearly relieved at the weak jibe.

 

“See you later, Jake” she went back into her room, leaving Jake in the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

 

When Sophia awoke two hours later, she found Jake sitting bolt upright in the bed next to her, fingers tapping distractedly over an icy mug of coffee.

 

“Why are you up?” she asked, voice croaky from sleep.

 

“What do you think of Teddy?” Jake didn’t cease his tapping.

 

“Early. Talking. Stop.” Sophia grunted, pulling a pillow over her head.

 

“Seriously, what do you think of him?”

 

“He’s fine” Sophia’s voice was muffled by the pillow. She lifted her head and sat up properly, studying her boyfriend “why? You setting me up with him?”

 

“No” Jake didn’t even pretend to smile at the joke “do you think he and Amy are good together?”

 

“I haven’t seen much of them, but yeah, I’d say they were pretty good. He’s studious, like her, and Amy seems comfortable around him. What do you think?”

Jake’s tapping ceased.

 

“I guess he’s ok-looking, and he’s a good guy, and they’re both kind of dorky about school stuff…”

 

“So what’s the problem?”

 

“He’s not good enough for her.” Jake finally met Sophia’s gaze, and Sophia saw the turmoil brewing in her boyfriend’s eyes.

 

“Ok, so who would be good enough for her?” Sophia had adopted her ‘lawyer’ voice.

 

“I don’t know. Not this guy.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because.”

 

“That’s not an answer.”

 

“Because Amy deserves, I don’t know, fireworks, not a party popper.”

 

“That’s an unkind view of Teddy. Besides,” Sophia covered Jake’s hand with her own “shouldn’t I be the one looking out for my roommate?”

 

“I just want Amy to be ok” Jake was wearing that stubborn pout he got whenever he was trying to figure out a problem that didn’t want to be cracked.

 

“I do too, Jake, and she is. This is the happiest I’ve seen her in ages.”

 

“Yeah. Me too.”

 

Jake stared hard at the wall, and Sophia knew there was no point discussing the topic further.

 

* * *

 

Amy noticed over the next couple weeks that Jake and Sophia started hanging out more and more at Jake’s place. She asked Sophia if it was something she’d done, but Sophia just smiled and shook her head. Amy tried to ask Jake about it, but she only ever seemed to encounter him in class, where he was in constant conversation with Charles or Gina, and proceeded to disappear as soon as the lesson ended. Life had fallen into a horrible little routine, with Jake only speaking to her for a total of a couple minutes each week. That was, until the day of her birthday.

 

Amy would come to miss those couple of minutes.


	10. The Birthday part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has been commenting!! The next few chapters are a bit intense, so this is some fluff before the storm, I hope you guys like it!

 

Amy had loved her birthday when she was little. For one day her brothers would stop breaking her toys and calling her names, and would actually play nicely with her. That, or they would face the wrath of Mrs Santiago. Usually they played Amy’s version of cops and robbers, where whenever a robber was caught they had to go through a meticulously detailed legal system in order to ensure a just sentence. Amy’s father would always greet her in the morning by scooping her up into his arms and spinning her around until she was laughing too much to tell him to put her down. Amy’s mother would stroke her hair and ask her what she wanted to do for her special day, a generous stack of pancakes already deposited in front of her only daughter.

 

In short, it had always been the one day of the year that had been _Amy’s_. Even better than that though, it had always meant that all the family would be together, an occasion that had become increasingly rare as the Santiago children grew.

 

Amy was not looking forward to her birthday this year. Last year she had gone home for her birthday weekend, and the day had been just as special as ever. This year though, for the first time ever, she wasn’t going to see her family. Her birthday fell during the week, and Amy Santiago wasn’t about to miss class just for the anniversary of the day she had entered the world.

 

As a result, when Amy hauled her eyes open on her birthday, jolts of electricity didn’t zip through her stomach as it usually would. There was no spark of excitement, or fluttering of anticipation; it was just another day in the life of Amy Santiago, get over it. She rolled out of bed, her joints practically creaking as she stumbled through her morning routine. _You’re getting old, Mia_ Amy could almost hear her Dad chuckling in her ear as she groggily poured herself a coffee. Amy’s eyes wandered gloomily through her apartment.

 

Sophia’s door was open and the room inside was empty. Maybe she was at Jake’s, maybe she’d had an early meeting, either way, Amy was alone. She heard the slam of one of her neighbour’s doors and the fading hum of voices as everyone else went about their day. She noted the box of cocoa pops gathering dust on the kitchen counter, the maniacal grin of the monkey on the cover mocking, sending an abrupt pang of pain through her.

 

_Get over yourself._ Amy shook herself angrily, trying to dispel the creeping melancholy.

 

She was going to have a great day. She was going to go to class, Skype Kylie over lunch, get some work done, call her parents, and go out with Teddy in the evening. It would be a good day. Defiantly, she turned the box of cocoa pops so that the teasing grin of the monkey was facing the wall, making her feel a modicum better.

 

* * *

 

The day passed pretty much as Amy expected. She didn’t have Holt’s class on a Monday, and Sophia wasn’t at the apartment the entire day, meaning that the majority of Amy’s human contact throughout the day came from calls from four of her seven brothers, her Skype session with Kylie, and a call to her parents that was cut short by her mother having to go cook.

 

The lack of attention didn’t disappoint Amy. She hadn’t told any of her friends at college about her birthday, not wanting them to feel like they had to do something. Or, even worse, them knowing and deciding that it wasn’t worth doing anything. She’d only told Teddy in passing, and had been pleasantly surprised when he had insisted on taking her out that night. It was nearing 5 in the afternoon, just when Amy was half way through an assignment for her Art History class, when her phone buzzed. Amy glanced down, expecting one of her more forgetful brothers to have been nagged by their mother into sending her a text, but it wasn’t. It was Jake. Amy read the message in surprise, she could count the number of times Jake had texted her in the past month on one hand.

_Jake: yo, weirdo, get to ginas place NOW!!!_

Amy’s phone buzzed again.

 

_Jake: pleeeeeeease?!? :) :)_

 

Amy was thoroughly confused.

 

_Amy: I can’t, I’m busy._

 

The reply was immediate.

 

_Jake: stop doing hw nerd you gotsta get down here._

 

_Amy: Why?_

_Jake: cos charles wants to play checkers and it’s gonna be rly boring and i don’t wanna!!! if you come we can play cluedo :D :D_

_Amy: Why can’t Gina play with you?_

_Jake: shes doin her nails and says bored games r stupid. don’t ya wanna play? scared im gonna beat ya again chicken?? ;) :) :D_

 

Amy felt a smile creep over her face.

 

_Amy: Fine, but I’m going out with Teddy tonight, so I can’t stay long._

_Jake: cooooooolio. now hurry up before charles finishes making his squid fingering food._

_Amy: You mean ‘finger food’?_

_Jake: i wish._

 

* * *

 

When Amy arrived at Jake’s apartment, she did her best to ignore the tingling anxiety thrumming through her veins. Or was that excitement? Either way, Amy forced herself to take a deep breath before knocking on the door. It swung open immediately, and suddenly there was confetti in her face and blaring music. A hand pulled her inside the apartment and, before Amy knew it, she was surrounded by people. In a daze Amy cast around her, taking in the familiar faces of Gina, Charles, Rosa, Genevieve, Adrian (Rosa’s new boyfriend), Sophia and Jake. Terry was even there, his arm around a woman Amy recognised as his girlfriend, Sharon.

 

Amy was clearly gaping in shock, because the others were all laughing and chatting, nudging her playfully. Amy fixed her eyes on Jake, noticing the hint of pride in his smile, and the trepidation in his eyes as he watched her reaction. _He did this._ Amy realised, feeling a firework of warmth explode in her chest. A grin of pure joy broke out over Amy’s face, and she gave Jake a look of unencumbered gratitude. Relief flooded his expression, and Amy felt herself being pulled along as a tide of babbling conversation and bubbling giggles swept her up, making her stomach drop and her head feel light.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a great party. They ordered pizza, gossiped, laughed, drank, and Jake had even baked an honest to god birthday cake decorated to look like a binder. On further questioning, Amy even believed that he’d done it himself, without any help from Charles. It was delicious.

 

As promised, there were board games. They played monopoly, the game of life, three rounds of cluedo, and risk. In short, it was everything a hyper-competitive rule-follower wanted from a birthday. Even Gina agreed to play, although she did insist on only buying properties in monopoly that matched her outfit. Risk eventually devolved into her and Jake pelting each other with blocks as they battled for control of Europe, but it was fun while it lasted. Teddy arrived part way through the second round of cluedo, Jake not having been able to invite him beforehand as he didn’t know Teddy’s number.

 

Teddy was only mildly put out at having his dinner plans spoilt, and seemed quite happy to sit by while the others played and ate pizza. Amy told him that he was welcome to join in, but he insisted that he’d enjoy watching more, something about ‘not understanding board games’.

 

Finally, Gina decided that she was sick of sitting around and announced that they were going to play charades, so she could put them all to shame with “the vision of expression” that was her body. Jake cannoned across the room and landed with a bounce on the couch next to Amy.

 

“I call Amy for Sophia and my team!” he crowed, “she’ll get the nerdy stuff, I’ll get the awesome stuff, and together we’ll take you all down!”

 

He had definitely been partaking in the cooler full of beer Rosa had provided. He nudged Amy’s shoulder and offered her a fist bump. She rolled her eyes, but reciprocated, a smile playing across her lips. In the end, the teams divided up as follows: Jake, Amy and Sophia on one, Gina, Terry, Teddy and Rosa on another, and Charles, Genevieve, Sharon and Adrian on another. Everyone dropped suggestions into a hat, and the game began.

 

They got off to a rocky start, with Gina attempting a far too literal depiction of ‘Dirty Dancing’ on Terry, until a stink eye from Sharon scared her off.

 

Charles spent a good ten minutes on his mime, somehow ending up on Genevieve’s lap, staring into her eyes. Sharon and Adrian looked on in confusion, having given up guessing a good two minutes ago.

 

“Oi, Creeps” Rosa snapped Charles’s attention back to the gathering “time’s up, what was it?”

 

“Oliver Twist.”

 

“What? Charles! How was that Oliver Twist?” Jake stared at his friend.

 

“I was on her lap, like an orphan child searching for comfort from the sexy but motherly Nancy-”

 

“Nope, nope, nope!” Jake squeezed his eyes shut and shoved his fingers in his ears.

 

Next, it was Sophia’s turn to mime. Jake and Amy shouted to be heard as they yelled out guesses, poking and shoving one another to try to put each other off. Finally, Amy yelled the right answer, after which she did a little victory dance around Jake, poking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and looked annoyed, but Amy could see amusement dancing in his eyes.

 

“It’s your birthday, I let you win.”

 

“What, so the other 364 days of the year you’re not a massive loser?”

 

“Guys, focus up! Come on, you can’t be this competitive when you’re on the same team” Sophia broke into their brewing argument.

 

The three of them sat, Amy and Jake still elbowing each other periodically. They watched as Teddy struggled to guess Rosa’s rather minimalist imitation of “Les Misérables”, and Adrian performed a graphic and disturbing rendition of “Weekend at Bernie’s”.

 

Finally, it was Jake’s turn, and he sprang from his seat eagerly. He plucked his piece of paper from the hat and opened it, a slow grin spreading over his face.

 

“Die Hard!” Amy called immediately, leaving a stunned silence. Jake stared at her for a beat before throwing his hands up in frustration and nodding, glaring at her. Amy sat up straight in her seat, practically glowing with smugness.

 

“What? Huh? How?” Terry looked back and forth between the two of them, confusion crinkling his brow.

 

“He obviously got one he wrote,” Amy explained “and, since it’s Jake, he wrote Die Hard at least once.”

 

Amy rolled her eyes as Jake plunked down beside her, pouting dramatically.

 

“You didn’t even give me a chance! It was going to be awesome, I was going to dive over the couch, and roll, and use a machine gun-”

 

“As much as I would love to see you break your neck, I also want to win.”

 

Jake smiled wide at that, his emotions having the turn around time of a five-year-old on a sugar high “that’s right, we’re totally winning now. Suck it losers!”

 

He and Amy high-fived, making Sophia snort. She didn’t understand how they could care this much about a game.

 

* * *

 

 

The evening continued in this strain, with Jake and Amy remaining unmatched in terms of speed and accuracy. At one point, when Jake guessed Amy’s ‘Hot Fuzz’ impression within ten seconds, Terry swore they were cheating and threatened to quit the game, saying “Terry doesn’t play with damn mind readers”.

 

Finally though, everyone felt themselves flagging. It was late, they’d almost played more games than was humanly possible, and everyone was slightly tipsy. As Jake, Sophia, Amy and Teddy made their way back to Sophia and Amy’s apartment, Amy couldn’t help but grin. It may not have been traditional, but it was the best birthday in her recent memory.


	11. The Birthday part 2

 

Jake was buzzing. He had just successfully thrown one of his best friends a surprise birthday party, things with Amy felt normal (by normal, he meant great), and he had a pleasant level of alcohol flowing through his veins. Now the three of them could just relax in the girls’ apartment until Amy announced that she had class tomorrow.

 

 _Four_ Jake mentally corrected himself, glancing at Teddy, _there are four of us._

 

Even the gratuitous presence of Teddy wasn’t enough to break Jake’s mood though. The other three were walking slightly ahead of Jake, but he was quite happy to trail behind with his hands in his pockets and a smile of contentment on his lips, observing Amy with a hint of pride as she giggled and beamed. She suddenly glanced over her shoulder and noticed him watching, dropping back so she was in step with him. She bumped him playfully with her shoulder.

 

“You know, I have to say, that was a pretty great party.”

 

“Excuse you, everything I do is great.”

 

“Weren’t you the guy who tried to go into a batting cage blindfolded and ended up with two black eyes and a severely bruised coccyx?”

 

“Hehe, coccyx.”

 

“Jake” Amy sounded exasperated, but Jake knew she was grinning, “I just want to say thanks, butthead.”

 

Jake stared at her, taking in how her eyes glittered in the streetlight.

 

“What?”

 

“I just can’t believe you called me a butthead. That’s so harsh.”

 

Amy laughed and Jake felt a rebellious butterfly come to life in his stomach.

 

“By the way, how’d you know it was my birthday? Did Kylie call you?” Amy raised her eyebrow curiously.

 

“No, actually, I have these things called ears, they come in handy for conversations and stuff like that.”

 

“Really? I thought they were to try to distract from your nose.”

 

“Hey, I get the nose thing, but there’s nothing wrong with my ears! Meanie.”

 

Amy laughed softly, but kept looking at him, expecting a proper answer.

 

“You mentioned it a while back. You said all that stuff about how great your birthday was in your family, and I figured, hey, let’s let Amy imagine that she’s not a total loser for one day” he did pretend jazz hands, trying to distract from the genuine thoughtfulness behind his actions. His words were teasing, but his tone was affectionate.

 

“What, you saying you don’t know when my birthday is?” he continued.

 

“Of course I do” Amy rolled her eyes “but that’s just because you refused to tell me, so I had to use my excellent detective skills to find out.”

 

“You asked Gina, didn’t you?”

 

“Hey, she made me watch three seasons of ‘Sex and the City’, that information came at a price!”

 

Jake chuckled and glanced up at the moon, milky through the pollution. It was good to talk to Amy again.

 

* * *

 

As Amy unlocked the door, Jake ignored the way Teddy’s arm slipped around her waist, focusing instead on the aura of joy Amy seemed to be emanating. He wished he could have made the whole day special, not just the latter half, but surprise parties apparently took a lot of organisation, especially if you were meticulously crafting a binder-shaped cake for a total neat freak.

 

“Thank you so much guys” Amy was saying, gesturing for Teddy to sit down on the couch next to Jake and Sophia before moving into the kitchen, returning with a glass of water for Teddy, a tea for Sophia, and some hot cocoa for Jake. She had even thrown in some mini-marshmallows. She pulled up a chair next to the couch on Teddy’s side, her hand resting casually on the guy’s arm.

 

“I had an amazing day.”

 

“You deserved it” Teddy looked up at her affectionately, interlacing their fingers. Amy smiled happily, but Jake watched her suspiciously.

 

“You want your presents, don’t you?”

 

“Whaaaaaaat?” Amy dragged out the word, her expression innocent.

 

Jake rolled his eyes and picked up the bag of presents they had carried back from Gina’s. Amy had refused to open her gifts in front of everyone, instead insisting that they brought them all back to her apartment so she could iron out the wrapping paper properly. Now, Jake handed her the bag, noting how her eyes lit up in anticipation. Mature as she pretended to be, Amy had some kid in her yet.

 

Amy carefully removed each present in turn, cringing at the more messy attempts at wrapping, and removing the paper with the same level of care every time. Finally, Jake couldn’t take it any more, and started snatching presents from the pile and ripping them open, making Amy glare and purse her lips, but she didn’t stop him. Eventually all the presents were open, leaving Amy like a happy magpie, surrounded by her shiny new things. Some presents were better than others, ranging from a glittery crop top from Gina, to an adult colouring book from Terry, complete with fresh colouring pencils. Amy loved it.

 

“Ok, our turn!” Jake announced, producing a sloppily wrapped present from his jacket pocket. Sophia and Teddy followed suit, each presenting their own gifts. Amy seemed uncertain.

 

“Thank you so much guys, but I don’t really like opening presents in front of the people giving them to me…”

 

“Come on Amy, it’s your birthday, you’ve got to open all your presents” Sophia prompted her, handing her a rectangular gift sheathed in sensible purple wrapping paper.

 

Amy smiled in acquiescence, taking apart the paper to reveal a leather-bound book.

 

“It’s about criminal law” Sophia explained “you probably know a lot of it already, but any good cop should know what rules there are to play by.”

 

“It’s amazing, thank you, Sophia!” Amy embraced her friend tightly, a genuine smile gracing her lips.

 

“Would you like to open mine now, Amy?” Teddy handed her his own present, wrapped so perfectly Santa’s elves would have studied it for inspiration. Amy opened the paper, uncovering a book with a picture of a beer glass on the front.

 

“It’s…” Amy studied the book carefully, a grin fixed on her face “about pilsners!”

 

“Yeah, I mean, I know you love reading, and you were saying that you’d probably enjoy the pilsner tastings more if you knew more about them, so…do you like it?”

 

Amy met her boyfriend’s gaze, still smiling, and nodded, “I love it, thank you so much, Teddy.” She leant down and placed a quick kiss on his lips before neatly stacking her two books on her lap.

 

“My turn, I guess” Jake handed her his own battered gift, a knot of nervous excitement tightening in his stomach. Amy shot him a quick smile before turning her attention to the present. Jake had done his best to be neat, but he could tell by the way her forehead creased that it was hardly up to her standards. Finally, a third book was revealed.

 

“I’m sensing a theme,” Sophia snorted.

 

Amy studied the book, a look of awe coming into her eyes.

 

“Yeah, so you know Professor Holt? Well, yeah, course you do. Anyway, in his wild youth he was a police captain, and he wrote a book about his time on the force. He’s got a lot of stuff in there about being a black, openly gay cop and how it affected his work. And he also caught a boatload of serial killers back in the day, and he goes into gory, but very factual detail about it all. You probably hadn’t heard of it because they only made, like, 500 copies, something about it ‘including more details about police procedures than any sane human wants to know’, so it sounded right up your street.” Jake finally stopped talking, forcing himself to meet Amy’s eyes.

 

“Oh my god, Jake, this is amazing!” she was still gaping, her gaze going from him, to the book, and back. Suddenly, her face broke into a full on beam, and she jumped up, Jake rising just in time to catch her fierce hug.

 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Amy released him, but her hands were on his arms as she jumped up and down.

 

The pocket of anxiety that had nestled in the pit of Jake’s stomach all day dissipated, and he grinned back at her, giddy with relief. It had been worth all the research and the talks with Holt outside of class and the trips to isolated bookstores. Her eyes were alight with a warmth that reached Jake’s very core, as if home made chocolate chip cookies were being shot right into his heart. At the same time though, her gaze managed to burn in a way that made thoughts drop out of Jake’s head, just to make more room for Amy. It was intoxicating.

 

Jake hadn’t realised that they had just been standing there, just staring at each other, until Teddy coughed.

 

“Sorry, so the book’s about serial killers?”

 

“Uh” Amy seemed to snap out of a trance, stepping back from Jake and nervously tucking her hair behind her ears “yeah, partially.”

 

“Isn’t that a bit morbid?” Teddy frowned, picking up the book and studying it.

 

“Um, I don’t know, I think it’s interesting.”

 

Teddy shrugged and started to help Amy tidy up her presents. Jake turned to Sophia, ready to make a quip. The joke died on his lips when he saw her expression. The buzzing in his veins from his success seconds before faded rapidly; this looked bad.

 

* * *

 

After Teddy and Amy had said their goodnights, Jake and Sophia stood in Sophia’s room and watched each other. Jake wanted to slump onto Sophia’s bed, or wrap his arms around her, or basically do anything else except just stand there, but everything in the room seemed to be permeated with invisible thorns, trapping him awkwardly across from Sophia. Her eyes pinned him to the spot, but he wasn’t brave enough to meet them, opting instead to focus on her slightly arched right eyebrow.

 

“Look, Sophia-” Jake began, but she put up a hand to silence him.

 

“I’m sorry, Jake.”

 

“Sorry about what?”

 

“I can’t do this anymore.”

 

“What?” Jake actually looked at Sophia now, the cold certainty that looked back at him like an icy hand reaching into his chest.

 

“You like Amy.”

 

Jake was stunned.

 

“That’s ridiculous, I’m _your_ boyfriend.”

 

“Look Jake, I got that you and Amy were close, but I figured that it was in a brother-sister way, you know?” Sophia paused, jaw tightening slightly as she gathered her thoughts “the way you guys fight, I didn’t see what it meant until tonight. You like Amy more than you’ve ever liked me, and it’s not right for us to keep seeing each other.”

 

“Sophia, this is crazy! Amy and I are just friends, nothing’s happened between us.” An image of Amy’s face, inches from his at the Pembroke party, flashed through his mind, making his heart flip and stomach drop.

 

“I don’t doubt that, Jake, you’re a good guy, and maybe you don’t even realise that you feel this way, but it’s true.” Sophia was standing stock still, legs straight and arms folded. It made Jake feel very small, facing her in his scruffy hoodie and jeans.

 

“Sophia, don’t do this, I…I kind-of-almost-maybe-think that I love you. I won’t let us break up over something this insane.”

 

A small, sad smile crossed Sophia’s lips.

 

“It’s not just Amy, Jake...I’m sorry, but I don’t kind-of-almost-maybe-think that I love _you_. You’re a sweet guy, and a good boyfriend, but we can’t do this anymore. I’m going to law school next year and, as great as we are together, I don’t really see us going anywhere. Besides, I think you only feel the way you do about me because you associate me with Amy.”

 

“That’s crazy!” She was treating him like a case, analysing his every action for motives as if he were a thief caught with a diamond necklace stuffed into his jacket pocket.

 

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. What’s crazy is how long it’s taken me to see this, but I’ve been so focused on work and…” Sophia sighed “you’ve liked Amy for a long time now, Jake. It’s time you accepted that. Hell, maybe the reason you’re fighting so hard to make us work is because you’re afraid to face how much you’re into Amy.”

 

Jake couldn’t take it.

 

“Stop it! Stop trying to make this relationship into one big, stupid charade.”

 

“I’m not!” for the first time that night, anger flashed in Sophia’s eyes, but this was quickly quelled “I’m just being practical about this. We’ve been going out for, what? Six months now? In all that time, Jake, we haven’t moved forward. We hit a wall a long time ago, and now we’re just going through the motions. It’s over, Jake.”

 

Jake was speechless. A million different emotions spun through his head, each vying to be felt, leaving him no room for thought. He just stood there, like a child lost in the middle of a crowd, feeling the gulf between him and Sophia multiply exponentially with every passing second.

 

“How…how are you so calm about this?” Jake finally managed, his voice cracking.

 

“When you realise something that really you’ve known for a while, it doesn’t take long to get used to that fact…I just don’t feel it Jake, I don’t feel about you the way you do about Amy. I mean, Jake, I _saw_ the way you looked at her. I can’t compete with that.”

 

Jake rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wipe this moment of his life out of existence “this is so messed up…” he sounded choked, even to his own ears.

 

“It’s not great” Sophia agreed. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him meet her eyes “but it’ll get better.”

 

Her eyes were full of pity, a hint of sadness tainting the otherwise perfect composure of her face. Shaking his head, Jake slowly slumped towards the door. That solid, familiar door, leading to the cheerful apartment where he had spent so many months laughing and lounging and just being _happy_. Not anymore. Now the door seemed looming and inescapable.

 

“Jake” Sophia’s voice interrupted his spiralling thoughts. Her head was cocked to one side, her arms still folded loosely and her mouth tight at the edges.

 

“Don’t wait too long to tell her how you feel. You’ll regret it if you do.”

 

Jake didn’t respond, he simply turned and left, the door shutting without a whisper behind him.

 


	12. Break ups and Binders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is passing so fast! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life once it's over. Anyway, here's another chapter, I hope you all enjoy it!

 

 _Break ups are hard_ , Amy decided in the weeks after Sophia and Jake split. She didn’t know any of the details, only that on the night of her birthday everything was fine, and the day after Sophia was telling her that Jake was no longer her boyfriend. Her roommate had had an odd gleam in her eye as she broke the news to Amy, as if she were holding something back, but Amy was far too shocked to pry.

 

After that day, Jake stopped coming round the apartment. He started arriving dangerously late to class, bundling himself into the back corner with Charles or Gina, and hardly saying a word to anyone. He didn’t lounge languidly at his desk as he used to, opting instead to hunch over his work and engage in a staring contest with the wall until the class ended. Then he would spring back up before the clock had even ticked past the hour, dashing away like the very air in the room burned him.

 

He stopped texting Amy.

 

Amy would still chat to Gina and Charles, but Friday night hangouts weren’t mentioned, and she was too afraid to ask. She still saw Rosa all the time, but even she actively avoided the subject of Jake. In short, it was like Jake Peralta had dropped out of Amy’s life, and she hated it.

 

She wanted to call him. God, she wanted to call him. But, this was a break up, and she was Sophia’s roommate. _Would seeing her upset Jake even more? Was it being disloyal to Sophia to remain friends with her ex after the break up? Did Jake only ever hang out with her because she lived with Sophia and, now that Sophia was out of the picture, he didn’t need her in his life?_ Amy asked the last question just to torture herself, knowing that that wasn’t how her and Jake’s friendship worked. Had worked.

 

Finally, Amy decided that, no matter how things were between Jake and Sophia, she had her own relationship with Jake. She cared about the guy, kind of a lot, and she would be a poor friend if she let their relationship die without a word. To that purpose, three days after the break up, Amy sent him a text.

 

_Amy: Hey, Jake, I hope you’re doing ok. If you want to talk, I’m here for you. If you want to drink in silence and watch Die Hard, I’m here for that too._

The reply had come almost a full day later.

 

_Jake: Thanks Amy, I appreciate it._

 

That had been a punch in the gut. He had called her Amy. He had used capital letters and punctuation. There hadn’t been an emoji in sight.

 

Teddy had watched with curiosity as Amy had grimaced at her phone, clearly not understanding the text’s significance. Amy, on the other hand, understood Jake’s message loud and clear: _I don’t want to talk to you_. She shouldn’t have been surprised really, clearly Jake was hurting and Amy was a living, breathing reminder of Sophia, but she couldn’t help but feel like a hole had been torn in her life. She knew it was selfish, but she wanted Jake to need her, to let her comfort him in his grief and make him laugh. It wasn’t to be.

 

Two dreary weeks passed before Amy spoke to Jake again, but that would be a moment she would never forget.

 

* * *

 

 

Amy was leaving the library late on a Thursday night, as was her norm, a colourful stack of binders in her arms and a pen between her teeth as she tried to manoeuvre her phone out of her pocket. It was pouring with rain, and Amy wanted to see if Teddy could pick her up so she didn’t have to risk her notes on the long walk home.

 

Suddenly, she felt her grip start to slip on her beautifully organised binders, and squealed inadvertently as they started to topple to the ground. Next thing she knew, a sodden figure in a leather jacket and scuffed jeans was in front of her, catching her notes before they hit the ground. It was Jake.

 

Amy stared at him in shock. His hair was plastered to his scalp, his jacket speckled with water droplets.

 

Up close, Amy could clearly see the eye bags that she hadn’t noticed from a classroom away, sending a flash of guilt through her for not trying harder to check up on him. Sure, she’d asked Charles and Gina and Rosa about him, and had even asked Holt how he thought Jake was doing, but she hadn’t actually _gone_ to his apartment to make sure. She’d been too scared, afraid of what lay behind that brittle look in his eye.

 

“Oh, wow, hey” Amy blinked, realising that she’d been staring at Jake for several seconds without moving “thanks, uh, Jake.”

 

“No problem…” he swallowed, for a microsecond an almost panicked look transfixed his face as he stood less than two feet away from her, his eyes imploring in a way she didn’t understand. Then he composed himself.

 

“I was going to go rescue a kitten stuck up a tree, but saving a nerd from her own notes seemed like an easier option” Jake flashed her a classic Peralta grin, and instantly Amy felt better. Despite the tiredness in his expression, his eyes still glowed with warmth, his smile made her want to laugh along, and his demeanour was so indisputably _Jake_ that she wanted to tackle him with a hug. Instead, she responded with her own smile and rolled her eyes.

 

“Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule” she replied sardonically as he straightened. She went to take the binders back from him, but he held them above his head like a jock holding aloft a trophy.

 

“Nuh-uh-uh, Ames, these things are a danger. It would be irresponsible for me to give them back, you clearly can’t handle them.”

 

Amy shot him an irritated look, hugging her own binders tighter.

 

“So what, you’re going to steal my notes? You realise that you might actually learn something if you read them, right? I don’t think the world would be ready for that.”

 

“Who said anything about reading them? I have all the supplies for an unstoppable paper airplane armada at my disposal.” He offered Amy a wicked smile, sending her into a full on glare as he bounced the binders up and down in his hands.

 

“Or” he continued “I could save the planet from destruction by binder by walking you home.”

 

Amy was about to dismiss the offer off the top of her head, but two things stopped her. One- she hadn’t spoken to Jake in weeks, and here he was, wanting to spend time with her; maybe this was a chance for them to actually be friends again. She wanted that. Two- there was a strange look in Jake’s eyes, a flash of nervousness and something else. Amy was getting the creeping suspicion that him being here tonight was no coincidence.

 

“Fine” she pretended to agree reluctantly “anything to stop you hanging around outside libraries at ten o’clock at night.”

 

Jake laughed and the pair set off, Amy pulling out her perfectly wrapped umbrella and demanding that Jake join her under it. She insisted that it was for the sake of the binders rather than him, but she couldn’t deny that she didn’t enjoy feeling the warmth radiating off Jake as he ducked out of the rain.

 

* * *

 

 

As they walked and talked, Amy felt like a fourth of July level of fireworks were going off in her chest. She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed doing this with Jake, just chatting and enjoying each other’s company, and she’d thought she missed it plenty. All the same though, something was off. Jake seemed happy but subdued, periodically getting lost in his thoughts as he and Amy made their way through the damp New York streets. There was a kind of thickness in the air, as if the two of them were brewing their own personal storm underneath her umbrella.

 

Amy wondered whether it was just that they were both dancing around certain topics (Sophia) like ballerinas. But no, she was sure something more was up with him. Amy forced herself not to press him, afraid Jake would clam up and she wouldn’t get to talk to him again for another fortnight. Besides, she wanted to savour being with Jake, in the cosy island they had created in the middle of the rain. She hadn’t spent any extended time one-on-one with him since…the Pembroke party. _Had it really been that long?_

 

Finally, almost reluctantly, they reached the shelter of Amy’s building, the pair huddling into the door separating them from the warm interior. Amy turned to Jake with forced brightness.

 

“Thanks a lot Jake, I can handle it from here” she went to retrieve her notes, but he stepped back, not meeting her eye. His hands tightening around the binders, a drowning man snatching at anything solid.

 

“Jake” Amy’s voice was soft now, slowly stepping towards him “come on, something’s bothering you. Tell me about it, please.”

 

He looked up at her, and Amy was taken aback by the haggard expression that had overtaken his face.

 

“Ames, I-” he coughed, his eyes darting away again evasively.

 

“Jake” Amy pleaded, placing a hand on his shoulder “I want you to be ok, please just talk to me.”

 

Jake glanced down at her hand, and then back to her face, taking in her earnest expression.

 

“Ok. Ok, fine. I’ll tell you. That’s the whole reason I stood outside some random library in the rain on a Wednesday night, to tell you this thing, so I might as well do it, right? But, Ames, this isn’t going to be easy. So, if you could just stand there and not say anything while I do this, that’d be great.”

 

Amy waited. She released his shoulder, shoving her hands into her pockets as a chilly wind whistled through their little alcove. Finally, Jake spoke again.

 

“Look, I don’t want to be a Jerk. I know you’re dating Teddy, and it’s going really well, it’s just…I know I’d be pissed at myself if I never said this. I kinda wish something could happen between us…romantic-stylez” he let the phrase hang there for a moment before barrelling on rapidly.

 

“And I know it can’t, ‘cause you’re with Teddy, and I’m Sophia’s ex, and that’s just how it is. I guess I’ve felt this way for a while, but I only just realised it, and I’m sorry about my crappy timing, but I just…I had to say it.” Jake glanced at her quickly, trying to gauge her reaction, but not daring to meet her eye.

 

Amy just stood there, mouth slightly open in shock, as the reality of Jake’s words sank in. As the vacuum of sound stretched between them, Jake seemed to take her silence as a response. Nodding to himself and tightening his jaw, he backed away slowly. He realised suddenly that he was still holding her binders and took a few hurried steps back towards her, thrusting them back into her arms and quickly turning away, shoving his hands into his pockets and almost dashing back into the rain. There was still a steady drizzle, but Jake didn’t seem to care as cold droplets threaded their way through his hair. He rushed down the street, leaving Amy standing on her threshold, clutching an armful of binders and staring after him like an idiot.


	13. Well, that happened.

Amy did not wake with the sun that morning. How could she, when she had never actually fallen asleep? She had tossed and turned and glared at her ceiling and buried her face in her pillow and had sent Kylie a series of increasingly incoherent texts.

 

Jake liked her. He had liked her for a while. Jake Peralta, self-proclaimed badass and total charmer, liked Amy Santiago, introverted bookworm and geek. Jake, the most annoying boy she’d ever met, liked her. Jake, one of her best friends and the nicest guy she knew, had said that he _liked_ her. And she’d just stood there.

 

Amy groaned, rolling over for the millionth time that night and slamming her head into her pillow as forcefully as she could manage.

 

Jake, Sophia’s ex-boyfriend, liked Amy, the girlfriend of Teddy Wells. This was bad.

 

_If it’s so bad_ a tiny, rebellious voice piped up in Amy’s head, _why are you smiling?_

 

She couldn’t exactly feign total innocence. There had been that moment at the Pembroke party in the closet, the moment Amy had effectively erased from her mind until this moment.

 

_She and Jake had been inches apart, practically sharing the same breath as their hearts pumped adrenalin through their veins. His eyes had been shining with mischief, amusement, and a hint of something else. The air between them seemed to thrum, making Amy’s skin tingle and her pulse quicken. They were staring at each other, brown mingling with brown as Jake seemed to gaze right into her soul. Without either of them seeming to move, they were closer to each other, Jake’s breath caressing the stray strands of hair on Amy’s cheek. His head had dipped, her breath had hitched, their eyes had closed, and then…nothing._

 

Amy had lain awake for hours over the ensuing weeks, swearing to herself that she’d imagined the entire incident. Of course she hadn’t nearly kissed Jake, that wasn’t the kind of thing she did. And why would Jake almost kiss her? _He had Sophia_ , the very idea was ridiculous.

 

All the same though, the memory of Jake’s smouldering gaze had stayed with Amy through all these weeks and months, and now…now Jake had admitted that maybe it was kind-of-almost real.

 

With a defeated sigh, Amy gave up entirely on sleeping and went into the kitchen, rubbing her scratchy eyes and yawning. She poured herself a cup of coffee and settled down to stare sightlessly at the wall, thoughts still swirling around her head like torn pieces of paper fluttering on the breeze.

 

* * *

 

 

That was how Sophia found her, three cups of coffee later, just sitting there, staring at the wall.

 

“Hey, Amy” Sophia curiously broke into her roommate’s thoughts, making the other girl jump in her seat.

 

“What’s with you?”

 

“Oh, nothing. I mean….nothing.” Amy steadfastly refused to meet Sophia’s eye, afraid of what her friend would see.

 

“So, Jake told you.” It was a statement, not a question.

 

Sophia snorted, leaning back against the kitchen counter with an air of amusement, mixed with something else- satisfaction? Resignation?

 

“What?” Amy just stared at her, her sleep-deprived brain struggling to focus.

 

“Jake told you how he felt.”

 

“How…how’d you know?”

 

“Lawyer’s instincts.”

 

“And…you’re ok with it?”

 

“I told him to tell you.”

 

“What?” Amy was straight up lost now, staring at her friend as if she had announced that she was going to drop out of college to become an Olympic pig wrestler.

 

“Of course, Amy, that’s one of the reasons we broke up. Jake was into you, _is_ into you. He wouldn’t fess up to it when we were together, but I’m glad he’s finally accepted it.”

 

“But…but” Amy was gripping her coffee tightly, as if hoping that it would anchor her to reality “he’s your ex-boyfriend, there’s no way you’d be ok with me going out with him.”

 

“Please, Amy, we’re all adults here. Jake and I didn’t work. We tried, we had fun, but we weren’t right for each other. You two on the other hand…”

 

“So, you want me to date him?”

 

“I don’t _want_ you to do anything, Amy, I’m just saying that I’ve never seen anyone look at another person the way Jake looks at you. But hey, it’s your choice, _you_ have a boyfriend. Just know that you can’t use me as an excuse to chicken out of hurting his feelings. If you don’t want to go out with him, then don’t go out with him. But, you tell him, and tell him soon.”

 

Amy just sat there, stunned into silence. Sophia contemplated her roommate thoughtfully.

 

“You know, I really admire you Amy. You deserve extraordinary things in life, don’t be afraid to go after them.”

 

With that, Sophia retreated back into her room, shutting the door behind her, and leaving Amy reeling.

 

Amy was alone again, just her and her thoughts. She reflected on Sophia’s words, indistinct phrases floating through her mind as her surroundings seemed to crumble away. _Jake was into you…I really admire you…the way Jake looks at you…you have a boyfriend._

 

That sent her mind screeching to a halt. She had Teddy. She had a sweet, stable boyfriend, who cared about her. He was starting his day right now, without the slightest idea that the girlfriend he so adored was considering dumping him for a guy she hadn’t even liked initially.

 

Teddy was smart and sensitive, he never teased or poked her, and he smiled patiently at all her little quirks. That was what she wanted, wasn’t it? How could she even consider giving that up for something as unpredictable and uninhibited as Jake Peralta.

 

The thing was though…

 

Teddy didn’t make her laugh. Or, at least, he didn’t make her laugh the way Jake did. Teddy didn’t make her pulse race by entering a room, or compete with her over meaningless bets, or tease her when she was getting too wound up. He couldn’t read her thoughts with a single look. He wasn’t challenging, he wasn’t exciting, he wasn’t…Jake. Jake, the sweetest, kindest, most charming, most _endearing_ guy she’d ever met.

 

With crashing clarity, Amy suddenly realised what she had to do.

 

* * *

 

Teddy arrived at Amy’s apartment half an hour after she texted him to come over. She’d spent her few classes that day staring into space, a dozen different scenarios and responses running through her head at what she was going to do. His eagerness and punctuality sent a knife of guilt into her stomach, but she did her best to keep her cool as she opened the door for him and he pecked her on the cheek.

 

“Hey Amy, I’m so glad you texted, I didn’t hear from you last night.” His smile calf-like- sweet and caring, but placid in innocence.

 

_This was not going to be easy._ Amy felt her courage quail inside her.

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I had a lot on my mind.” Amy offered him her best apologetic smile while she seated them on the couch.

 

“I know, you’re working incredibly hard, and I appreciate that. I just missed you, you know?”

 

_Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!_

 

“Teddy” Amy began, her fingers scratching at the seam of a couch cushion, her eyes entirely focused on the marbled wood of the coffee table. _What had Kylie said about break ups? ‘be gentle and honest, but not too honest’._

 

“What is, Amy?” Teddy took her hand, looking at her with big, concerned eyes. _Ok, just get it over with…_ Amy took several quick, deep breaths, as if preparing to dunk her head in a bucket of ice.

 

“I want to break it up” Amy announced, her voice shaky and far too loud “us. I want to break us up.”

 

“What?” Teddy dropped her hand.

 

“I’m sorry” Amy forced herself to meet his eye “I just…I don’t think we’re working out.”

 

“But…but I thought things were going so well” Teddy’s face was all hurt confusion, mouth slightly open with shock.

 

“I’m sorry” was all Amy could think to say, trapped under Teddy’s accusing gaze. His expression hardened.

 

“Is there someone else?”

 

“What? No, Teddy, come on!”

 

“There is!” Teddy was on his feet now, pacing back and forth in Amy’s small living room, his eyes never leaving her face. “Who is it? That Terry guy? Charles?”

 

“Stop it Teddy, this is crazy!”

 

Teddy froze “it’s Jake, isn’t it?” Amy tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. Her eyes betrayed her though, and Teddy let out a derisive snort.

 

“Seriously, Amy? That chump? He’s so annoying, you say so yourself!” Teddy’s eyes were like daggers, cutting through Amy and leaving her raw.

 

“He’s not annoying!” it was the first thing she could think to say. She was on her feet now, hands clenched and jaw set “don’t be an ass about this Teddy. Us breaking up is not Jake’s fault, I’ve just realised that I don’t think we’re not really going anywhere. We’re not right for each other.”

 

“So, what? You’re going to run off with your roommate’s ex? Real classy, Amy. You two are going to ride into the sunset, and then he’ll piss you off, and bam; you’ll be done. You don’t even like the guy, you’re just so desperate to be more like Sophia that you’ll even take her sloppy seconds!”

 

Teddy was just saying things to hurt her now. Amy knew it, but it still felt like a punch to the gut.

 

“Shut up Teddy, this isn’t anyone’s fault. But, just for the record, I’d rather be his ex than your girlfriend any day!”

 

Silence. They both just stood there, glowering at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The corpse of their relationship lay between them, and Amy was standing over it with a knife. Finally, slowly, Teddy moved towards the door. He paused, not facing her, as if he was going to add a final jab, but no. He didn’t look back as the door slammed behind him. A ringing quiet was left in his wake, angry words and bitter thoughts buzzing through the air like flies.

 

“Well, that could’ve gone better.” Amy muttered to herself, adjusting her ponytail distractedly.

 

“You could say that” Amy turned to see Sophia leaning against her doorframe, watching Amy with interest.

 

“Bad?”

 

“It was better than TV.”

 

“Great.”

 

“Sooooo, are you going to call Jake, or should I? Because, as cool as I am, I think that would be weird.”

 

“He…he’d be in class right now” the anxiety and residual anger of the break up were fading fast from Amy’s stomach, replaced with a tingling energy Amy couldn’t repress “I’ll go over to his in a bit.” Amy tucked her hair behind both ears, feeling a slow smile creep over her face.

 

“Good luck!” Sophia chortled in a singsong voice, returning to her room. She flashed a smile over her shoulder, and Amy felt herself grow giddy as the reality of the situation sank in.

 

_She needed to write a speech._


	14. About damn time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter ended up being a bit racier than I was originally intending, and I actually had to cut a lot of it out if I wanted to keep the T rating, and even now it's pushing it a bit. I hope you all enjoy it, let me know what you think works/doesn't work. The last chapter is going to be an epilogue, so the next chapter is the last proper chapter of this fic!
> 
> Reposted as there was a mistake the first time round.

 

Jake Peralta was having a pretty crappy day. He’d been having a lot of crappy days recently, but this one definitely took the cake. The crappy cake.

 

Jake groaned as he slumped against the wall of his living room, tossing his backpack onto the couch and sliding down until he was crouching on the ground, clutching his head.

 

He had told _Amy_ that he liked her. Amy, the prettiest, smartest, kindest, dorkiest, most adorable girl in the world; and she hadn’t said anything. He hadn’t expected her to say anything, he kind of hadn’t wanted her to, but still.

 

His life had been whipped around him into a knotted mess after Sophia had dumped him, but it hadn’t taken Jake long to realise that the hurt he felt over Sophia was just one strand of his turmoil. In the heart of it all, in the blank space in the centre of the web, was Amy. _When you realise something that really you’ve known for a while, it doesn’t take long to get used to that fact_. Jake hadn’t appreciated the truth of the sentiment until that moment. He had fallen into being enamoured with Amy Santiago with all the resistance of a sigh, because, really, he’d been falling for a long time.

 

This acceptance had kept Jake in a sort of bittersweet hell over the past couple weeks. The relief he felt at the pieces of his life falling into place to reveal Amy Santiago as the picture was undercut by the almost total certainty that his newly realised feelings would go unrequited. Jake hadn’t realised it, but he had been at war with himself for the past few months and, now that he finally had peace, he had wanted to at least pretend that it would be followed by the validation of all his fantasies and yearnings.

 

Now that he’d done it, he’d jumped off the cliff, he couldn’t help but miss when he still had that futile fluttering of hope. The fleeting dream that, when he made his declaration, she would throw herself at him and they would _kiss_. God, he wanted to kiss her.

 

Because, as well as being pretty and adorable, she was also unfeasibly sexy. He’d thought it when he’d seen her come out of the library, her hair glossy in the yellow light spilling through the building’s windows, her make up simple and neat. She’d had a pen pressed between her perfectly puckered lips, a frown of concentration furrowing her flawless forehead.

 

 _Flawless forehead?_ Jake groaned again. He had it bad.

 

He leant back, thumping his head against the wall, almost missing the knock at his front door. Surprised, he just looked at the door, as if it had asked him a question. The knock came again.

 

Struggling to his feet, Jake trudged towards it. It was probably Rosa or Gina, trying to persuade him to come to a bar with them. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

 

When he opened it though, he found Amy. He stared at her in shock, taking in the wide brown eyes, the incredibly silky black hair flowing loosely around her oval face, the delicate mouth opened slightly in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected him to answer.

 

“Hi” was all Jake could think to say.

 

“Hi” she responded, meeting his gaze. He silently moved to one side so she could come in. Slowly, as if cautious of booby traps, she did.

 

They stood there, in Jake’s living room, not speaking. Jake wanted to offer her a drink or something, but was afraid that any sudden move would spook her, and she would fade into the night like an apparition. Amy moved slowly, removing her sensible dark blue jacket and carefully draping it over the sofa arm, revealing the deep red blouse and comfortable jeans beneath.

 

“Where’s Charles?”

 

“Family reunion. He’ll be back Monday.”

 

“Right.”

 

Jake couldn’t take it anymore, he had to say something “why are you here, Amy?”

 

Amy turned to him, seemingly having made a decision. Her mouth tightened and her eyes ignited, her hands balled into fists at her side “I’m pissed at you” she declared.

 

“What?” Jake stared at her.

 

“Yeah, you heard me, I’m pissed at you.”

 

She scowled at him, starting to pace around the apartment as she got into mad-Amy mode “I mean seriously, I had everything sorted- I had a perfectly nice boyfriend, a stable social life, good grades, and then, bam! You drop your bomb and run.”

 

Jake didn’t know what to say, but apparently Amy didn’t need his contribution as she ranted on.

 

“You just go and do something like that, so ridiculously idiotic, and crazy, and sweet, and you just leave me standing there like a moron! I had classes today, you know, I needed sleep! But no, Jake had to go and do that, so who needs sleep?”

 

Jake was doing his best to follow Amy’s ramblings, but it was hard. Had she called him sweet, or idiotic?

 

“And seriously, who does that? Just announces something like that and runs off, without giving a second for anyone to come up with a response, or a plan, or anything! How selfish is that?”

 

That got a rise out of Jake. It hurt enough just to see her, but this; her shouting at him while still being so purely _Amy_ , he couldn’t take it. He stepped forward, blocking her path as she paced past him, forcing her to look up, into his face.

 

“Oh yeah, Amy, so what? So what if I didn’t give you a chance to respond? What were you going to say? What earth-shattering response should I have waited around for?”

 

Their eyes scorched into one another. They were far closer together than Jake had anticipated, he was practically being burned by the proximity, her vanilla lime scent pulling him forward. She was staring up at him, jaw tight and expression serious. Then her gaze flicked down to his mouth. It was only for an instant, but Jake was sure of it.

 

And then, her mouth was on his and they were kissing. For a moment he was frozen, a snapshot of disbelief and shock, and then his mouth was opening to her, and everything in Jake’s head was exploding with colour, and his eyes were sliding closed, and his arms were around her waist, and she was leaning against him. Her hands were in his hair, skating down the back of his neck, sending tingling shivers up and down his spine. Amy’s kiss was fierce, but at the same time her mouth was soft and pliant, slanting her lips against his to allow their tongues to slide over one another. It was a constant push and pull; everything was moving, but time wasn’t passing. Everything was just that one, long, incredible moment.

 

There was molten gold was racing through Jake’s veins; he was burning up, but he didn’t care. A balloon of helium was expanding in his chest, and only the feeling of Amy in his arms stopped him from floating off into space.

 

Finally, Jake needed oxygen. Amy seemed to feel the same, as the kiss softened until they were just standing there, forehead-to-forehead, breath intermingling as they panted. Jake’s eyes were shut, afraid that opening them would usher in reality, and he would be back to sitting on the floor, curled in on himself, alone.

 

When he did open his eyes though, Amy was still there. She was blinking up at him with a kind of wonder, her eyes impossibly dark, her lips red and damp. Jake swallowed, trying to find words.

 

“Sorry, so you were shouting at me?”

 

Amy laughed, the soft sound like music to Jake’s ears.

 

“What can I say? You’re an idiot.”

 

“Oh, you know it.”

 

A grin was threatening to crack Jake’s face as he breathed in the scent of Amy, her face centimetres from his own. It felt like there was a rabbit on a sugar high running around in Jake’s head, yelling “yippee!” and jumbling his thoughts into blissful disorder. The real world slowly filtered through to his brain though, and he straightened slightly, hands tightening on Amy’s hips as if to anchor her to him.

 

“Teddy?”

 

“Out of the picture.”

 

“What? Not old Teddster, he was such a stand up guy! I’m going to miss him.”

 

“Sure you are” Amy laughed, seeing the joy flooding across Jake’s face.

 

“So” Jake’s mouth twitched into a teasing smile “you couldn’t resist my bad boy charm, huh?” he was joking, but he knew Amy could sense the underlying vulnerability of the question.

 

“No, actually, I had a sudden compulsion to kiss someone weirdly obsessed with Die Hard, and I couldn’t think of anyone else that lame.”

 

“Stop, you’re going to make me blush.”

 

His smile faded as his gaze entirely focused on Amy. He was staring at her just how he had always wanted to, not even trying to strain out the utter wonder and adoration that rushed through his chest when he saw her, letting it pour out of him unfettered and unapologetic.

 

Amy clearly felt the significance of the look, but she faced his gaze unflinchingly, fingers stroking the back of his neck slightly.

 

“Look, Jake” Amy began, glancing down before meeting his gaze again. She was nervous, not because she was uncertain, but just because she was Amy and he was Jake, and this was happening.

 

“I…you’re...I really do like you, a lot, and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to say it. I want this. I want you, you know…”

 

“Romantic stylez?” Jake offered, his hands sliding around to Amy’s back, pulling her even closer to him.

 

“Yeah” Amy rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop a broad grin from splitting her face “romantic stylez.”

 

“I think I’d be open to that.”

 

“My excellent deductive skills suggested that you might.”

 

Jake inhaled deeply, taking in her scent as their eye contact intensified. _This girl,_ a voice inside him marvelled as he studied the familiar shape of Amy’s face, _this incredible girl actually wants to go out with me._ Suddenly, he was tired of teasing banter. He wanted to taste Amy again, he was tired of resisting the magnetic pull that tugged at his chest every time he saw her, and he was sick of waiting.

 

Their lips crashed together, Jake pulling Amy flush against him as their mouths melded, tongues tasting each other and hands leaving burning trails as they raked over clothes. Jake buried one hand in Amy’s unbelievably soft hair, loving the feeling of the luxurious strands between his fingers. The dam that he’d been holding together for so long was crumbling rapidly, and Jake relished the feeling.

 

His hands found their way under her blouse, fingers sliding over soft, smooth planes. Amy let out a sighing moan in response, jerking down the zipper of Jake’s hoodie and pawing at the button down beneath. Judging from the impatient rasp at the back of her throat, she was done with holding back as well.

 

Jake’s hands moved higher, grazing the sides of Amy’s bra before his thumbs stroked over the front of her breasts, eliciting a full on _groan_ from Amy as she hooked one leg around Jake’s, desperate to be closer to him. The feeling of her against him left Jake almost struggling to breath, but even that didn’t stop him kissing Amy. She’d got through all of his buttons now, and was sliding her hands under his soft grey undershirt. Her hands, still cold from the walk to his apartment, made his breath hitch as they traced paths around his stomach to his back, following the notches of Jake’s spine upward.

 

Their lips were still pressed together, moving over one another eagerly. They only separated when Amy took a step back to remove her blouse, making Jake borderline snarl in frustration at the sudden loss, and then something else, as her understated black bra was revealed. Impatiently, he shrugged off his own layers, tugging his undershirt over his head with one hand. He let out an almost guttural growl and grabbed Amy around the waist, pulling her to him as he walked her back until she was pressed against the wall, his mind almost short circuiting as their chests collided.

 

Amy moaned again, hands running over Jake’s shoulders and up into his hair, before moving down to his waist, digging her fingernails into his back as Jake’s own hands roved higher. His fingers were scrabbling at the clasp of her bra, and Amy lifted her hips from the wall to give him better access, accidentally making contact with the front of Jake’s jeans. They both bit back groans at the friction, Jake’s fingers freezing before becoming practically frantic in their fumbling until, with a triumphant grunt, he was sliding the thin straps down her arms.

 

There was a pause. Jake was staring down at Amy with awe, mouth agog. Amy snorted at his expression.

 

“What’s wrong, Peralta, never seen boobs before?”

 

Jake met her taunting gaze, something dark and intense flowering inside him.

 

“Oh, you’re going to get it” he growled.

 

“I certainly hope so” Amy responded, moving away from the wall and hooking her fingers around the edge of Jake’s jeans, tugging him after her as she walked backwards towards his bedroom door. Jake followed more than willingly.

 

His need to be pressed against her though was fervent, and he quickly closed the distance between them, capturing her lips again and burying his hands in her fluid locks. This made the journey to his room far less efficient, but who gave half a damn about that?

 

Finally, they stumbled through his bedroom door, Jake pushing Amy gently down onto the bed and following closely, hovering above her and meeting her eyes carefully, trying to gauge what she had in mind. Slowly, deliberately, she reached up and unbuttoned his jeans. He immediately reached down and did the same, one handed, eyes never leaving Amy’s. She leant upwards and placed a delicate, almost chaste kiss on his lips. It was his favourite kiss so far.

 

Then Amy’s hands were hooking around his neck, pulling him downwards, and they were making out again. It quickly grew sloppy, his mouth tracing down her neck, leaving a trail of nips and kisses as Amy sighed in encouragement. He moved to her ear, teeth tugging on her lobe and tongue following the curve of the shell.

 

“Jake” Amy’s voice was strained, and she scraped her nails down his back, just hard enough to encourage him to move along. Jake did as he was bid, moving down her body, exploring her with a labyrinth of kisses and nips and licks and bites, tongue tracing and mouth sucking as he went from her neck, to her chest, to her stomach, and back up again.

 

“Jake” Amy repeated, but this time it seemed to just be for the sake of saying his name. It was intoxicating.

 

As Jake continued his slow ministrations though, Amy quickly grew impatient. She tugged his head back up to her lips for another searing kiss, arching her back at the same time to grind her pelvis up against Jake’s, making his hips stutter and mouth pant.

 

“Are…are you sure?” Jake managed as Amy pulled down the zipper of his jeans and jerked the item of clothing downwards.

 

“Yeah, are you?” Amy paused for an instant, meeting his eyes steadily. Jake didn’t dignify that with a response, shoving his tongue back into Amy’s willing mouth as he went to work on her jeans. Then, they were just in their underwear.

 

As her hands continued their careful investigatory touches, Amy swallowed Jakes groans, purring as she realised just how into this he was. Jake, of course, had to reciprocate. The whimper Amy produced would haunt Jake’s daydreams for months to come.

 

Suddenly, Jake couldn’t think anymore. Amy was inside his underwear, caressing him with smooth strokes, making his eyes shut of their own accord and his hips jerk. He had stopped kissing Amy, his every molecule focused on the feel of her hand.

 

“That’s” Jake gulped, trying and failing to keep his voice steady “nice.”

 

“You know,” Amy’s voice was low and amused, a scratch of arousal reaching into Jake’s core “I just remembered, I really should go finish doing my laundry for the week...”

 

“Ames, you are evil” Jake’s voice was hoarse as he tried to regain control of his own body. She tightened her grip slightly. “Yep, totally evil” he decided, before swooping down and distracting her with a kiss, sliding his own hand southwards.

 

The gasped in unison, Amy’s hips bucking upwards of their own accord. Jake hummed in the back of his throat, the gentle exploration that had started when they reached the bed was shifting, snowballing into a haze of heat and hunger, each battling to go one step further, to feel that little bit more.

 

All at once they both froze. _They were naked_ , Jake realised with surprise. His gaze focused on Amy’s face, trying to gauge her reaction to this new state of affairs. Her eyes were roving over his body, her stare as piercing and intense as a laser. She glanced back up at his face, taking in the desire that was obviously written all over it, and gave him a slow, terrifyingly sultry smile. He gulped, forcing himself to tear his eyes away as he reached over her to scrabble in his bedside table draw, finally brandishing a little plastic packet. Amy grinned, plucking the little square from Jake's grasp and unwrapping it efficiently, a proud smile playing across her lips. Jake had thought she couldn’t get any sexier, god, was he wrong. _How was she managing to be totally adorable while turning him on more than he had thought was physically possible?_

 

Jake met Amy’s eyes one more time, a silent exchange that tried to express everything he was feeling, and then it was just happening. They found a rhythm quickly, their competitiveness, always under the surface, egging one another on as they raced towards the finish line. Jake’s breath was coming hard and fast, his heart pounding in his chest as he did his best to focus on the beautiful woman writhing beneath him. Everything was blurry and burning and building pleasure, and _wow_ this was going to be an embarrassingly brief first time if they continued like this.

 

Luckily, Amy wasn’t faring, much better, panting his name louder and louder, grinding her hips upwards mercilessly. Sloppily, Jake imprinted his lips down her neck, her panting breath ruffling his hair. Their hands were still moving, rubbing and soothing and driving each other into a frenzy.

 

Suddenly, Amy was over the edge, a yell wrenched from her lips as her legs tightened around his waist. It was all getting a bit much for Jake.

 

“God, Ames…please, argh, I can’t…I’m going to…” Jake stuttered, before suddenly pleasure exploded through him. Waves of shuddering relief racked his body, stripping away his consciousness and forcing him just to _feel_.

 

He may have blacked out for a couple seconds.

 

Once he was able to move, they just lay there, side by side, the rise and fall of their chests gradually slowing, the sweat cooling on their skin. Jake forced himself to turn his head, watching Amy as she lay with her eyes shut, fingers clenching and unclenching around his twisted sheets. Sluggishly, every movement taking far too long, Jake took the hand closest to him, interlacing their fingers. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her palm, marvelling at the sight of their interlocked hands. She squeezed slightly and he squeezed back. Eventually, once Jake was convinced that his heart wasn’t actually running a marathon without him, he spoke.

 

“I would like to formally apologise for all the comments I ever made about your sex life.” Amy laughed, shoving his arm playfully as he continued “seriously Ames, like, wow. Next time I make a sex tape joke, it’s going to be more along the lines of ‘OhMyGodCanWePleaseDoThatAgain’.”

 

Amy rolled so she was lying on top of him, still laughing as she stroked his cheek, his arms cinching her waist and their legs tangled.

 

“I guess that could be arranged...”

 

Jake decided that sleeping was overrated- no dream could live up to the real thing.


	15. The Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: the fluffiest fluff that ever fluffed. Dentists need to be on speed dial to deal with this level of sweetness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry, I know that it's just been ages since I've updated, but I got a bit swamped by work, and then I got a bit stuck on this chapter. Thank you very much to everyone who commented, and I hope this chapter is kind-of-almost-maybe-sort-of worth the wait. I've planned an epilogue, but I haven't written it yet, so it might be a little while until it's up. Thanks again for all the support, comments and kudos!

 

Amy was awoken by light filtering through a crack in the curtains. _Why hadn’t she drawn them properly last night?_ Sleepily, Amy shifted, screwing her eyes shut against the invasive sunlight. Suddenly, she registered a weight across her hip. She glanced down. It was an arm.

 

The events of the previous evening flashed back through Amy’s mind, a slide show of her getting to Jake’s apartment, kissing the serious look off his face, the desperate scramble through their clothes. Amy remembered laughing, in the post coital haze as she and Jake started to drift into sleep, neither of them even considering Amy leaving.

 

Amy rolled over, careful not to displace Jake’s arm as she faced her bedmate. He was beautiful in sleep; his face gentle and boyish, his mouth open in a soft ‘oh’, his breathing regular and comforting. A bubble of warmth and contentment exploded inside Amy, making her almost giggle as she lay beside her best friend, both of them almost entirely naked.

 

This thrill of joy was in stark contrast to the anxiety she’d felt on the walk to Jake’s apartment, her brain offering up a dozen different scenarios where Jake had laughed off his previous declaration as a joke, or he answered the door with his arm around some beautiful new woman, or even just stared at her with disinterest when she announced that she returned his feelings.

 

She’d drafted an entire speech just to make sure she got her point across, but all thought of the carefully worded lines she had committed to memory went out of her head when Jake, scruffy and tired-looking, opened the door. His eyes were red, whether from sleep deprivation or tears, Amy couldn’t tell. Purple shadows had formed underneath, giving him the look of a basset hound puppy. The collar of his shirt was askew, the first couple buttons undone, and Amy had to fight every OCD bone in her body not to adjust it.

 

But he’d given her this _look_. A look that was part surprise, part confusion, part apprehension, and part pure _wonder_. It was the kind of look Amy never imagined anyone would look at her with, let alone Jake, and the sight of it made her heart stop.

 

So, she’d got mad.

 

It wasn’t genuine fury, just a boiling of emotions that exploded out at that look, and, since she was so used to being frustrated with Jake, these emotions had automatically come out as anger. Amy had suddenly found it easy to express all she was thinking, feeling a kind of release of all the tension she hadn’t realised she’d been holding in for months. _Wasn’t the only release that night_ a voice in Amy’s head that sounded suspiciously like Jake pointed out.

 

Amy was distracted from her thoughts by Jake letting out a sighing breath, the arm around her tightening and instinctively pulling her closer. He was incredibly warm, like a sentient hot water bottle that she could cuddle into, enveloping her in the halo of heat radiating off his body. It was _ridiculously_ nice. But, it had to end. Amy badly needed to use the bathroom, and the fact that she hadn’t eaten dinner last night was evident in the complaints her stomach was making.

 

Cautious not to wake Jake, Amy slipped out from the cosiness of the duvets and his grasp, and padded into the kitchen. She pulled on her underwear and shrugged on Jake’s plaid shirt from last night, doing up the buttons and liking how it smelled like him. _She knew what Jake smelt like_ the thought sent another jolt of pleasure through her, the butterflies in her stomach going into overdrive.

 

Amy made coffee. She’d had a quick investigation of the fridge and cupboards, but had only found Charles’s mysterious and terrifying jars and bottles, and a pretty appalling selection of Jake’s favourite soft drinks and candies. Amy knew Jake could cook, his grandmother had told her as much, but the guy just didn’t make any effort. It was probably for the best that coffee and cereal were Amy’s only options; she would have burnt anything else.

 

She’d just finished pouring two cups of the comfortingly dark liquid, when she felt a rush of soft air behind her. Two arms encircled her waist and a body, solid and warm, fitted against hers.

 

“Mornin’” Jake’s voice was gravely from sleep, his lips pressing into her hair as he spoke. She felt him inhale, breathing in her scent.

 

“Good morning” Amy couldn’t keep the smile from her voice as she turned in his arms, hooking her hands around his neck. He was dressed only in boxers, and Amy was very ok with that.

 

“You’re wearing my shirt.” Jake’s voice purred, his gaze wandering over her appreciatively.

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry, do you want it back?”

 

Jake didn’t bother answering, just pulled her in for a deep kiss, his mouth slotting against hers in a way that was bone-achingly right. Amy pulled away, meeting Jake’s heated gaze. Amy recognised where this was going. She was, however, still starving, so she extricated herself reluctantly from Jake’s arms and offered him a bowl of cereal- no milk, and a cup of coffee. He seemed to get the message and smirked, the heat, mixed with affection, never leaving his eyes.

 

They sat side by side at Jake’s kitchen counter, far closer than was necessary. Amy practically shivered every time Jake’s arm brushed over hers, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake.

 

She watched him out of the corner of the eye, admiring his strong jaw, his slightly curly hair, his chocolate eyes. Amy knew Jake knew she was watching him, she was catching his side-glances too, and she couldn’t help it as a broad grin spread over her face, making it difficult to crunch on the little pieces of candy that apparently passed for cereal in Jake’s world.

 

Suddenly Jake turned to her, a playful gleam in his eye.

 

“I bet I can catch this piece of cereal in my mouth.”

 

Amy rolled her eyes. _She was into someone with the mental age of a fourth grader._ Still though, Amy couldn’t resist the challenge.

 

“You’re on.”

 

For the next few minutes, Jake and Amy were almost helpless with laughter as they tossed their cereal higher and higher, catching it successfully maybe 5% of the time. Amy was pretty rubbish at it, but she worked around it by poking and tickling Jake so he couldn’t catch his own air-borne cookie-shaped pieces.

 

“Ok, this one’s for all the marbles!” Jake announced, throwing his cereal piece so high that it brushed the ceiling. He watched the piece with total concentration, his lips pressing together for an instant as he focused on his target. Well, how was Amy supposed to resist that? She used his distraction and stepped forward, so she was right up against Jake, one hand on his waist, the other getting lost in his hair as she went up on her tippy toes, nibbling on Jake’s ear. Jake let out a startled grunt, automatically pulling Amy closer and looking down at her, his eyes boring into Amy’s own. The cereal piece bounced off Jake’s head, but he didn’t notice.

 

“Game over” Amy decided, leaning up to press her lips against Jake’s, a thrum of pleasure going through her as he responded eagerly, fingertips pressing into her waist, and heartbeat reverberating through her via the single layer of clothing separating them.

 

His hands went to her ass, pulling her flush against him as he crowded her back against the counter. The next thing Amy knew, he was grabbing the back of her legs and hauling her up, lifting her onto the countertop without breaking their kiss. A moan echoed through Amy as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer as his fingers lost themselves in her hair. One hand slid up her thigh, making Amy quake.

 

The door slammed.

 

Jake sprang backwards as if he’d been burned, Amy letting out a squeak and quickly slipping off the counter to stand at his side, facing the door. Charles Boyle was grinning at them.

 

“Hi guys!” his voice was squeaky with excitement, his entire body seemed to vibrate with joy. His eyes were wide and bright, as if tears were on the verge of tipping down his cheeks.

 

“Charles” Jake barked, clearing the arousal from his voice with a cough and moving between Amy and the door, blocking her from the little man’s beaming gaze. Amy stuck close to Jake’s back, her heart hammering, adjusting her (Jake’s) shirt and doing up a couple more buttons.

 

“Boyle family reunion was cancelled, five of the cousins came down with mono.”

 

“How-? You know what, I don’t want to know.”

 

“Sorry, I would have knocked, I didn’t know you had company…”

 

“It’s fine, Charles.”

 

The wash of panic Amy had initially felt upon Charles’s arrival was slowly subsiding. Her pulse was racing and her cheeks were burning, but it wasn’t with shame or embarrassment (or at least, not much embarrassment), it was with excitement. She was standing, barely dressed, with _Jake_. Charles had caught them. Everyone would know. That was going to be her reality.

 

A million emotions sizzled through her- anticipation, anxiety, pride, exhilaration, trepidation, even a hint of triumph. Her underlying feeling though, the one that centred her as her thoughts stormed around her, was that of certainty. This was right, she was meant to be with Jake and she didn’t want to change that.

 

As this realisation settled in her stomach, Amy needed to bury her face in Jake’s back to hide the crazy smile threatening to crack her face. He was still talking to Charles, but Amy wasn’t really paying attention. She pressed her fingertips into Jake’s lower back, relishing how warm he was to touch, unconsciously tracing a path between the sparse freckles. She let out a sighing breath and pressed her lips against his skin, careful to avoid Charles’s gaze. Jake let out a stiff cough and shifted his weight slightly, his knuckles turning white for an instant as he gripped the counter.

 

Amy glanced up at his face. Charles was saying something wildly inappropriate, but Jake clearly wasn’t listening. His jaw was tensed as he glared at his friend, more with concentration than anger. He was standing stock still, as if he was forcing himself not to lean back into her. Amy had to suppress a giggle. Even when confronted by his flatmate’s wide eyes, he still wanted her, quite badly from the looks of things.

 

“So, buddy,” Jake was saying “don’t you want to go see Genevieve now that you’re back?”

 

“She usually walks her dogs this time on a Saturday.”

 

“I’m sure she’d love the company” Jake’s voice had a forced brightness to it.

 

Well, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Pushing herself forward against Jake slightly, making sure that Charles couldn't see what she was doing, Amy let a single finger trace a path from the top of his spine downwards, trickling over his vertebrae and stopping just before his boxer line. Her lips were still pressed against his skin as she looked over his shoulder, so she opened her mouth slightly to allow her tongue to taste him, drawing small patterns on his shoulder blade. And, for good measure, she pinched his butt.

 

She watched Jake’s face carefully, taking an indecent amount of pleasure from the way his eyes were turning black, his expression strained as his mouth battled between a smirk and a grimace. He let out an almost imperceptible grunt and leant into her slightly, maintaining his vice-like grip on the counter.

 

“Right…” Charles couldn’t seem to take his eyes of the couple. Finally, he seemed to snap out of it.

 

“I’m going to Genevieve’s,” he announced, as if the idea had just occurred to him “I’ll be back tomorrow evening.”

 

He strode into his room, leaving the scantily clad pair in the kitchen.

 

“You are evil” half-groaned half-whispered, still not looking back at her, but tangling his hand with Amy’s, leaving one to steady himself against the counter.

 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about” Amy breathed with mock-innocence, dusting kisses across his shoulder. His chuckle rumbled through her. She started nipping the side of his neck, sucking sensitive spots here and there. His throat growled, his grip on her hand tightening, squeezing their interlaced fingers squeezed together as if trying to fuse her to him.

 

They both straightened as Charles re-entered the room, wearing a fresh shirt and having swapped his suitcase for a backpack.

 

“Bye guys!” he called over his shoulder cheerily as he made his way to the front door “have fun! Be safe! If you need it, there are pickled oysters in the fridge!”

 

The door clicked shut behind him. Jake sprang around the counter, towards the door, locking it and drawing the latch across decisively. He turned to Amy slowly, pressing his back against the door and studying her.

 

“If I ever get invited to a Boyle family reunion, please break your leg so I have an excuse not to go.”

 

“Why can’t you break your leg?”

 

“Hey, that sounds painful” Jake pushed away from the door, walking slowly towards Amy so that he was on the other side of the counter, dark eyes drilling into her “besides, you deserve it, you were being totally mean just now.”

 

“What, you didn’t like it?” Amy leant forward, a teasing purr to her voice “because the evidence begs to differ.”

 

“Charles has probably already told everyone, you know.”

 

Jake seemed to gravitate towards her, palms flat on the smooth surface of the counter.

 

“We should probably deal with that.”

 

“Mmhmm…”

 

Suddenly, Amy was moving. She was up on the counter, half-crawling, half-sliding until she reached Jake. He was ready for her, arms wrapping around her as soon as she was in reach, pulling her to him as he attacked her mouth. Their hands were scrabbling, pressing, tearing. Amy’s legs were once again around Jake’s waist, he was lifting her off counter table, and they were stumbling back towards his bedroom.

 

 _This whole not-being-able-to-keep-their-hands-off-each-other thing was going to cause problems_ the thought drifted into Amy’s head, until something happened to spin it right out again.

 

* * *

 

 

It turned out that everyone knowing wasn’t so bad. Sure, Gina found the whole thing hilarious, Rosa looked on in disgust if Jake and Amy so much as glanced at each other for too long, and Charles would doggedly probe them with painfully personal questions for hours on end, but overall Amy thought it was fine. Maybe that was because any time one of their friends teased them, Jake would wink at her, or grab her hand, or peck her cheek and say “damn right”. Anyway, the point is that she didn’t mind.

 

Amy noticed some changes when she started dating Jake ‘for realz’. Their texting frequency went up 1000%. Whenever they hung out with the group, Jake would shoot her these smiles that would make everything else fade away. She started catching him watching her with that _look_ , and now he wouldn’t even deny that he was doing it. He would just shrug, sheepish smile playing across his lips, and say “what can I say, babe? I guess I kind of like you.” Oh yeah, and he sometimes called her ‘babe’ now.

 

Jake and Amy were both initially wary of Sophia, not knowing where exactly the line was for a woman who was apparently totally fine with her roommate and ex-boyfriend dating. Sophia told them to not be idiots and stop slinking around her.

 

Amy had never been in a relationship like this. She was still herself, was still perfectly happy to go and do her own things, or hang out with her own friends, but everything was just so much _better_ when he was around. As their relationship continued, it became almost stupid how much she liked being around him. Where in previous relationships, she would start to feel herself shutdown and need space, missing her empty weekends, that wasn’t a problem with Jake. Sure, they had their space, but it was just _good_ to be around each other.

 

He could pull her out of a funk with a few gentle jokes and a firm hug, his fingers looping through her hair soothingly. He could make his most annoying comments seem charming, making Amy smile despite herself. He could look at her with black, predatory eyes when they were out, and she would know that the night was going to end in gasping moans and stuttering breaths. He could make the weeks leading up to summer vacation pass in the blink of an eye, and make the prospect of months of free time seem dreadful and gloomy.

 

* * *

 

 

Amy carefully cut the duct tape sealing shut the last of her boxes with a single smooth cut of the scissors, folding over the end of the tape into a precise point. She looked down with satisfaction at the collection of cardboard boxes, each sporting a perfectly printed label. The front door opened.

 

“Ames?” Jake’s voice called.

 

“In here.”

 

Amy didn’t bother turning around, her gaze focused on the boxes, going over her mental checklist for a fifth time. Her thoughts were broken by an arm sliding around her waist, tugging her in for a quick peck on the lips before releasing her.

 

“Wow, Ames, there are enough boxes here to make a pretty decent fort,” her boyfriend observed, nudging one with his foot, making it a fraction out of alignment with the rest.

 

“No, you are not doing that.”

 

“Spoil sport” Jake glanced up at her and smiled. It wasn’t the playful look she was expecting though, his smile was rigid and his gaze was mournful.

 

“What’re you doing here anyway, Jake? I thought you and Charles were going to that art show Genevieve organised, and I’m not leaving until this evening.”

 

“Yeah, turns out that art’s _really_ boring. And kind of gross.”

 

Amy was sure something was wrong now. Even as he tried to smile his lips tugged down, and he wouldn’t meet her eyes for more than a second. Whenever she looked away though, she could feel his eyes on her.

 

She stepped forward, sliding her hands up Jake’s arms until they rested around his neck, forcing him to face her. His gaze was still glued to the ground though, and Amy gently stroked his cheek, making him look at her. His eyes were bright, but pained, his lips tight and his jaw clenched. When he finally met her eyes, he stared into them as if she were the last few drops of water in the middle of a desert, evaporating in the scorching sun. She knew that he was trying to memorise every detail of her face, because that was exactly what she was doing to him.

 

“I’m going to miss you, you know,” Amy almost whispered.

 

A flash of surprised crossed his face at how easily she had read him, but then he was pulling her close to him, enveloping her in a bear hug, holding her tightly to him. His hands rubbed slowly up and down her back, following well-known lines.

 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about” his voice was gruff as he buried his face in her hair, letting lose a rattling breath.

 

“Of course you don’t.” Amy carded her fingers through his own locks soothingly, her heart clenching at the now-familiar feeling of Jake in her arms. _How long would it be before she got to do this again?_

 

“But, you know” Amy eventually continued, pushing against Jake’s chest slightly so she could look at him, his hands still firm on her waist, their foreheads resting against each other “you’re coming up to visit me for a week next fortnight, and two weeks after that I’m going to be back in New York for a bit, and then we’re going to that beach house with the others, and then…before you know it, I’ll be back here again, moving my stuff in.”

 

Jake’s eyes closed for a moment, letting her words flow over him like a stream smoothing out a pebble.

 

“I still can’t believe you’re moving in with Rosa and Gina.”

 

“Yeah, well, Rosa couldn’t afford to live by herself anymore, no matter how hard she tried, and Gina was looking for a new place anyway. She only complained a bit when I asked to move in, and her insults were focused on my fashion sense, not me as a person, so I think it’ll be ok.”

 

“It’s just…” Jake’s eyes were on hers again, boring into her as if afraid that if he looked away for an instant, she would turn to smoke “summer’s a long time…”

 

“Yeah, I know, babe.” She tightened her grip on him, her heart weighed down by the same melancholy she could see reflected in Jake’s face “but we’re going to text, facebook, call, skype…”

 

“Snapchat, whatsapp, facetime, smoke signal, messenger pigeon…” Jake continued with only a hint of sarcasm, a watery smile crossing his face.

 

“Mmhmm...” Amy agreed, her throat feeling too taut for actual words. She leant up and kissed him, lips slightly parted and eyes fluttering shut. Jake responded instinctively, hand pushing between her shoulder blades to bring her closer. As she started to pull away, Jake chased her, deepening the kiss as his fingertips pressed into her skin with almost painful pressure.

 

Eventually, the kiss ended. Amy watched as Jake stood there, eyes still shut and breathing slow but uneven. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes.

 

“So, no box fort?”

 

Amy laughed and unwillingly released Jake, there was still stuff to do after all, and her adorable boyfriend didn’t change that. She made her way to the kitchen to triple check that she hadn’t left anything in there. The apartment seemed so empty, so desolate. Sophia had moved out a couple days ago, leaving Amy with a warm hug and a friendly wink, her bright eyes already straying to her future as she waved her ex-roommate good-bye.

 

As Amy reached the kitchen though, she felt a rush of air behind her, and Jake’s arms once again encircled her. He pulled her firmly against him, his body fitting around hers like a missing puzzle piece.

 

“Mine.” She heard him mutter into her hair, a hoarse edge to his voice.

 

“What?” she reached her left hand behind her to cup his jaw, the right trailing along the forearm pressing into her stomach and keeping her clinched against Jake.

 

“Mine. You’re mine.” His grip tightened. He sounded like a petulant child, clinging to his blanket before his first day of school.

 

“You’re mine, and I’m yours, and that doesn’t change just because you’re not here. Ok?”

 

“Ok.” Her voice was quiet, quavering slightly. She took a shuddering breath, turning in his arms so she could meet his eye. The choking emotions welling in her heart prevented Amy from saying anything more as she buried her face in Jake’s chest.

 

Nothing else needed to be said.


End file.
